Analysis of adolescent problem behaviour and its dynamics within the context of biopsychosocial model

In her dissertation, L Šeibokaitė analyzes gender differences in harmful behavior towards self and others, changes in harmful behavior towards self and others from 5th to 12th grade, and relationships among forms of harmful behavior towards self and others. The study also analyzes psychosocial factors related to harmful behavior towards self and others. In her study, 2,894 students from grade 5 to grade 12 were assessed at the beginning of study and at the time of discharge using measures of psychosocial functioning in adolescence (Goštautas, 1998), Health and Lifestyle questions from the international Kaunas Rotterdam Intervention Study (Glazunov, Dowd, Baubinienė et al., 1981), the Abstract Thinking Scale from Cattell’s 16 Factor Inventory (1979), Rokeach values (Goštautas, Goštautas, 1996; Rokeach, 1969) and other social-demographic data. The survey was administered during years 2003, 2004 and 2005, each time following the same procedure. The results of the study show that boys are more prone to harmful behavior towards self compared to girls; harmful behavior towards self and others has different transitional trends from 5th to 12th grade; changes in harmful behavior towards self and others occur due to age effect, but not the cohort effect; the relationship among forms of harmful behavior towards self and others has been determined; psychosocial factors are related to harmful behavior towards self and others; there are different groups of students according to links between forms of harmful behavior towards self and others; the results of this research partly expand the Theory of Problem Behavior. The scientific review of L. Šeibokaitė’s dissertation includes scientific analysis of the methodological aspects of the dissertationPsichologijos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta