Relationship between self-concept and risk behaviours among students

Samopoimanje predstavlja cjelokupnu sliku koju osoba ima o sebi. Ono ovisi i o vanjskim faktorima u okolini te se oblikuje kroz čitav tijek razvoja osobe. Samopoimanje je u bliskoj vezi s rizičnim ponašanjima mladih osoba te je predmet brojnih istraživanja. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati vezu između pojedinih aspekata samopoimanja (samopoštovanja, samopoimanja tjelesnog izgleda, odnosa s roditeljima i samopoimanja religioznosti) i rizičnih ponašanja studenata (konzumacije alkohola i rizičnog seksualnog ponašanja). Istraživanje je provedeno s 273 studenta putem on-line anketnog upitnika. Rezultati su pokazali da studenti imaju relativno visoku razinu samopoštovanja, samopoimanja tjelesnog izgleda i percepcije odnosa s roditeljima, dok je religioznost na srednjoj razini. Nadalje, rezultati su pokazali da postoji negativna značajna povezanost između samopoimanja religioznosti i konzumacije alkohola te rizičnog seksualnog ponašanja. Isto tako, odnos s roditeljima se pokazao kao negativno značajno povezan s rizičnim seksualnim ponašanjem i nekim oblicima konzumacije alkohola. Također je utvrđeno da studenti značajno više konzumiraju alkohol te se rizičnije ponašaju u području seksualnosti od studentica. No, isto tako se pokazalo da se studenti i studentice ne razlikuju s obzirom na dimenzije samopoimanja koje su bile predmet istraživanja. Potrebno je dublje istražiti ovu temu u budućnosti s većim brojem studenata kako bi se moglo donijeti valjanije zaključke te kako bi se potencijalno preventivno djelovalo na rizična ponašanja studenata.Self-concept represents a complete impression that a person has about oneself. Among other things, it depends on external factors in the environment and it is formed throughout the whole development of a person. Self-concept has a close relationship with risk behaviours of young people and it is a subject of many studies. The objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between self-concept (self-esteem, physical appearance, relations with parents and self-concept of religiosity) and risk behaviours of students (alcohol use and risk sexual behaviour). Research was conducted through an on-line survey questionnaires with 273 students. The results showed that students have relatively high self-esteem, self-concept of physical appearance and perception of relationship with parents, while their religiosity was moderate. Likewise, the results showed a significant negative correlation between self-concept of religiosity and alcohol use and risk sexual behaviour. There was also a significant negative correlation between relationship with parents and risk sexual behaviour and some aspect of alcohol use. The results showed that male students use alcohol significantly more and have a higher rate of risk sexual behaviour compared with female students. There was no difference in various aspects of self-concept between male and female students. It is necessary to investigate this subject more thoroughly in the future with larger samples of students in order to bring stronger conclusions and to potentially prevent risk behaviours of students