Parenting Styles of Parents of Potentially Gifted Children - from the Perspective of Children and Parents

Kao jedan od važnih čimbenika koji utječu na odrastanje/rast i razvoj djece općenito, ali i one (potencijalno) darovite izdvaja se roditeljski odgojni stil koji predstavlja skup stavova/ ponašanja roditelja prema djetetu te emocionalna klima unutar koje se odvijaju različiti roditeljski postupci. Budući da odgoj darovite djece može biti izazovan/uzbudljiv, roditelji bi trebali pažljivo birati svoje odgojne postupke/metode, odnosno osluškivati djetetove želje/potrebe, pružiti mu posebnu potporu/zaštitu, modificirati svoje uobičajene odgojne postupke/podučavanje te mu prvenstveno osigurati poticajnu/obogaćenu sredinu za razvoj (raznolikost aktivnosti, iskustva i poticaja). Dakle, ključ uspješnog odgoja darovitog pojedinca/djeteta leži upravo u poštivanju; njegove jedinstvenosti, mišljenja/ideja i najljepše od svega, njegovih snova. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati mišljenje potencijalno darovitog djeteta o odgojnom stilu njegovih roditelja kao i mišljenja roditelja potencijalno darovite djece o vlastitom (roditeljskom) odgojnom stilu. Istraživanje je bilo provedeno metodom anketiranja potencijalno darovite djece i njihovih roditelja na području grada Rijeke i grada Zagreba. Uzorak ispitanika činilo je 73-je djece i 77-ero roditelja. Korišteni mjerni instrumenti su adaptirani upitnici, jedan za djecu „Anketni upitnik za djecu“ (Buri, 1991; Kimble, 2014) i jedan za roditelja „Anketni upitnik za roditelja“ (Kimble, 2014; Buri, 1991). Svaki se anketni upitnik sastojao od dvije skupine pitanja; prva je ispitivala opće demografske podatke, dok su u drugoj ispitanici na temelju postavljenih tvrdnji trebali procijeniti vlastiti/roditeljski odgojni stil. Dobivenim rezultatima utvrđeno je da nema statistički značajne razlike između roditelja u percepciji o vlastitom stilu odgoja s obzirom na njihov spol (majka/otac) kao i dob. Također je uočeno da roditelji uglavnom preferiraju elemente autoritativnog stila odgoja dok se prema ponašanjima koja karakteriziraju popustljiv i autoritarni stil odnose kritički. Nadalje, zaključeno je da ne postoji ni statistička značajnost između djevojčica i dječaka u njihovu mišljenju/stavu o odgojnom stilu roditelja, dok se razlike kod djece iskazuju s obzirom na njihovu dob; najveća statistička značajna razlika u mišljenjima o stilu odgoja roditelja uočena je između djece dobi 9-10 i 13-14 godina.One of the more important factors which influence children's growth (both gifted and non-gifted children) is parental style which represents a number of stances and behaviors of parents towards their child as well as emotional climate within which different parenting processes are being carried out. Since nurturing gifted children can be challenging/exciting, parents should be carefully picking out their parenting methods, more precisely keeping an eye out for their child's wishes/needs, give him appropriate care/support, modify their usual nurturing methods as well as primarily ensure a stimulating/enriched ambiance for development (diversity of activities, experiences and stimuli). As such, the key of successful nurture of a gifted child lies in mutual respect between parent and child, respect for the uniqueness of the child, his opinions/ideas, and the best of all, his dreams. The goal of this study was to inquire about the opinions of potentially gifted children about the parenting styles of their parents, as well as opinions of parents of potentially gifted children about their own parenting style. The study was carried out through surveying potentially gifted children and their parents in the cities of Rijeka and Zagreb. The samples included 73 children and and 77 parents. For this study the way of surveying was two series of questions. One for children („Anketni upitnik za djecu“ [Buri, 1991; Kimble, 2014]), and one for one of their parents („Anketni upitnik za roditelja“ [Kimble, 2014; Buri, 1991]). Every one of these surveys contained two parts. The first part were questions about the general demographic facts while the second part were questions with which the questionee needed to estimate their own parenting style. With the obtained results, it was concluded that there isn't any statistically significant difference between parents and their perception about their own parenting style with regards to their sex (mothers/fathers) as well as their age. Furthermore, it was also concluded that there isn't any statistical significance between girls and boys about their thoughts/attitudes about their parents parenting styles. On the other hand, there was differences on the same topic with regards to the children's age: the biggest statistically significant difference in the perception of their parents parenting styles was noticed between age gropus of 9-10 and 13-14