The role of important adults in positive youth development

U suvremenim istraţivanjima psihologija se sve više usmjerava na promoviranje pozitivnog razvoja mladih (Larson, 2006). Lerner (2005) je postavio okvir istraţivanja pozitivnog razvoja kroz pet pozitivnih karakteristika: briga, kompetencija, povezanost, karakter i samopouzdanje. U društvenom kontekstu adolescenata odnosi s briţnim odraslima koji im nisu roditelji jedan su od faktora koji pridonosi pozitivnom razvoju adolescenata (Bowers i sur., 2014). Ovim istraţivanjem ţeljelo se opisati odnos adolescenata s odraslim osobama koje oni smatraju vaţnima te ispitati na koji način obiljeţja tih odnosa pridonose objašnjenju karakteristika pozitivnog razvoja adolescenata. U istraţivanju je sudjelovalo 277 srednjoškolaca te su u mjerenju korišteni Inventar pozitivnog razvoja mladih (Arnold, Nott i Meinhold, 2012), Inventar socijalno podrţavajućih ponašanja (Barrera, 1981), Skala bliskosti s vaţnom odraslom osobom te pitanja o drugim obiljeţjima vaţnih odraslih osoba i odnosa s njima. Otvorenim pitanjima ispitao se kontekst odnosa. Rezultati pokazuju da su vaţne odrasle osobe većinom istog spola kao i adolescenti, u srodstvu s njima te ih nešto više od polovine adolescenata smatra uzorima. Rezultati potvrđuju Rhodesov model (2005) prema kojemu adolescentima vaţne odrasle osobe pomaţu na tri načina i to kroz podršku psihološkoj i kognitivnoj dobrobiti i pozitivnom razvoju identiteta. S vaţnim odraslim osobama adolescenti se u prosjeku poznaju duţe od deset godina, viđaju ih i od njih primaju neki vid podrške bar jednom tjedno, te se veoma rijetko sukobljavaju. Odnosi adolescenata s vaţnim odraslima obiljeţeni su visokom razinom bliskosti i zadovoljstva. Djevojke i mladići ne razlikuju se u procjeni većine ispitanih obiljeţja odnosa s vaţnom odraslom osobom. U objašnjavanju karakteristika pozitivnog razvoja mladih značajni su prediktori spol adolescenata, obrazovanje vaţne odrasle osobe, uzajamnost u odnosu, učestalost sukoba te zadovoljstvo odnosom.Contemporary research in psychology is oriented towards promotion of positive youth development (PYD) (Larson, 2006). Lerner's framework (2005) identifies five characteristics to measure PYD: caring, competence, connection, character and confidence. Relationships with caring adults are a part of adolescents' social context that can enhance these characteristics (Bowers et al., 2014). The goal of this research was to describe the nature of relationships adolescents have with important adults and to examine the characteristics of these relationships and how they contribute to PYD. Participants were 277 high school students, who completed Inventory of positive youth development (Arnold, Nott & Meinhold, 2012), Inventory of socially supportive behaviours (Barrera, 1981), Closeness scale for relationships with important adults and questions about other characteristics of important adults and adolescent's relationship with them. Contexts of these relationships were examined with open-ended questions. The result showed that the majority of adolescents have an important adult in their life and value them highly. Important adults are mostly of the same gender as adolescents, related to them and deemed as role models. They help adolescents to achieve higher well-being through three processes proposed by Rhodes (2005): through social and emotional development, identity development and cognitive development. Adolescents know their important adults on average for more than ten years, they see them and receive support from them at least once a week and they usually do not have conflicts with them. The high quality of these relationships is evident from high levels of closeness and satisfaction in relationships. There are no differences in the majority of these characteristics between boys and girls. Significant predictors of PYD characteristics are the gender of adolescents, education level of important adults, mutuality, the frequency of conflict and the satisfaction with relationship