AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
2018; Van Wert et.al., 2018), conflict (for instance Hušvétyová,
and Sarmány Schuller, 2004), conversation orientation (for
instance Ryan, Roman, and Okwany, 2015). Hacek (2017) also
mentions the family's conformity orientation, which creates a
space in which children are encouraged to acquire and maintain
the same attitudes, values, beliefs as their parents. In dialogue
orientation, parents create an open environment where children
are encouraged to discuss together with their parents (Hacek,
2017). Adequate parental control and monitoring and positive
relationships with parents are protective factors against
delinquency and criminality, as well as other risk forms of
behavior (for example, school failure or truancy - Li et.al., 2015;
Malczyk, and Lawson, 2016).
In our research, we assume a statistically significant negative
relationship between the examined characteristics of the family
environment (cohesion, expressiveness, organization,
conversation orientation, control) and the examined risky forms
of pubescent behavior (drug use, delinquency, bullying -
perception of self as a victim). We assume a statistically
significant positive relationship between the examined
characteristics of the family environment (conflict) and the
examined risky forms of pubescent behavior (drug use,
delinquency, bullying- perception of self as a victim). With this
in mind, we have not found any relevant research findings on the
possible existence of a relationship between other characteristics
of the family environment contained in our research problem, we
ask research questions about the existence of a relationship
between other characteristics of pubescent families: intellectual-
cultural orientation, active-recreational orientation, moral-
religious orientation, independence, success orientation,
conformity orientation and researched forms of risky behavior
(drug use, delinquency and bullying - perception of self as a
victim).
2 Methods
Three questionnaires focused on the identification of individual
research variables were used in the conducting of the research:
1. Family environment scale (Hargašová and Kollárik, 1986).
The scale represents a method for quantifying the discrepancy
between family members; in our research we used it exclusively
for the pubescent perception of the family. The scale contains 90
statements concerning the family environment. It is divided into
10 factors - characteristics of the family environment: 1.
Cohesion (COH), 2. Expressiveness (EXP), 3. Conflict (CON),
4. Independence (IND), 5. Success orientation (SUO), 6.
Intellectual-cultural orientation (ICO), 7. Active-recreational
orientation (ARO), 8. Moral- religious orientation (MWO), 9.
Organization (ORG), 10. Control (CNT). The first three
represent relational dimensions, the factors 4 to 8 dimensions of
personal growth, and the last two dimensions of system
maintenance.
2. The Revised Family Communication Pattern Instrument
(Ritchie and Fitzpatrick, 1990). The questionnaire consists of 26
items aimed at assessing the perception of pubescents about
communication in the family environment and is divided into 2
scales: Conformity orientation (CNO), Conversation orientation
(CVO).
3. Occurrence of risky behavior of adolescents (from the Czech
original “Výskyt rizikového chování u adolesc
entů (VRCHA)”,
Dolejš and Skopal, 2015). The questionnaire contains 18 items
grouped into three subscales: drug use (DRU), delinquency
(DEL) and bullying (experience with bullying behavior as the
object of bullying, BUL).
The JASP statistical program was used for statistical data
processing. To describe the research data, we used descriptive
statistics - median (M), standard deviation (SD), minimum
(Min.) and maximum (Max.) measured values. The relationship
between the examined characteristics of the family environment
and the examined forms of risk behavior of pubescents was
determined using Pearson's correlation coefficient (the normality
of the distribution in individual variables was identified in
advance).
Our research sample consisted of N = 287 pubescents attending
the 6
th
, 7
th
and 8
th
grade at primary schools in the Trenčín and
Nitra regions of the Slovak Republic. Of the total number of
respondents, 153 were boys and 134 were girls. 67 pubescents
were attending the 6th grade (23.35%), 107 pubescents were
attending the 7th grade (36.93%), and 114 pubescents were
attending the 8th (39.72%). We had 152 pubescents in urban
primary schools and 135 pubescents in rural primary schools.
3 Results
Table 1 provides an overview of the descriptive characteristics of
the observed variables.
Table 1 Descriptive statistics - family characteristics and
selected types of risk behaviour of pubescents
M
SD
Min.
Max.
DRU
0.540
1.040
0
6
DEL
1.345
1.583
0
6
BUL
0.742
1.015
0
4
COH
6.652
1.941
0
9
EXP
5.756
1.888
1
9
CON
2.610
2.241
0
9
IND
5.348
1.464
1
9
SUO
5.544
1.516
0
9
ICO
3.826
1.727
0
9
ARO
5.240
1.940
0
9
MWO
4.561
1.367
0
8
ORG
5.941
1.613
1
9
CNT
4.899
1.706
0
9
CNO
33.139
5.844
17
55
CVO
48.443
9.421
15
71
Note: DRU = drug use; DEL = delinquency; BUL =bullying;
COH = cohesion, , EXP = expressiveness, CON = conflict,
ORG = organization, IND= independence, SUO = success
orientation, ICO = intellectual-cultural orientation, ARO =
active recreational orientation, MWO = moral-worldview
orientation, CNT = control; CNO = conformity orientation
CVO = conversation orientation).
Table 2 Relationship between family characteristics and selected
types of risk behaviour of pubescents
DRU
DEL
BUL
COH
r
-0.172 **
-0.230 ***
-0.213 ***
p
0.004
< .001
< .001
EXP
r
-0.116 *
-0.145 *
-0.110
p
0.049
0.014
0.064
CON
r
0.149 *
0.288 ***
0.301 ***
p
0.011
< .001
< .001
IND
r
0.152 *
-0.026
-0.088
p
0.010
0.656
0.139
SUO
r
0.062
-0.001
0.028
p
0.299
0.984
0.640
ICO
r
-0.169 **
-0.139 *
0.004
p
0.004
0.018
0.943
ARO
r
0.053
-0.020
-0.023
p
0.369
0.732
0.692
MWO
r
0.091
- 0.143 *
- 0.185 **
p
0.125
0.015
0.002
ORG
r
-0.254 ***
-0.300 ***
-0.146 *
p
< .001
< .001
0.013
CNT
r
0.013
-0.069
0.064
p
0.825
0.247
0.283
CNO
r
0.007
0.039
0.017
p
0.904
0.510
0.771
CVO
r
-0.171 **
-0.159 **
-0.121 *
p
0.004
0.007
0.040
Note: r = Pearson correlation; p = statistical significance: * p <
.05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001; DRU = drug use; DEL =
delinquency; BUL =bullying; CON = conflicts, COH =
cohesion, EXP = expressiveness, ORG = organization, COO =
conversational orientation, CNT = control, IND= independence,
SUO = success orientation, ICO = intellectual-cultural
orientation, ARO = active recreational orientation, MWO =
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