Perception of interparental conflict, mental health and academic achievement of adolescents

Sukob roditelja obilježava socijalno povlačenje roditelja, smanjenu fizičku i psihološku dostupnost roditelja i negativni odgovor na potrebe njihove djece i adolescenata. U razdoblju adolescencije koje karakteriziraju brojni životni prijelazi povezani s povišenim rizikom od stresa i psihičkih problema sukob roditelja može imati posebno štetne učinke na psihološku prilagodbu djece i mladih. Sposobnost roditelja za učinkovitu interakciju s adolescentima može biti otežana ako su često u sukobima što može rezultirati smanjenjem pružanja podrške adolescentu i manjom percepcijom emocionalne dostupnosti roditelja. Sukob roditelja, osim što narušava odnos roditelja i adolescenta i povisuje razine stresa, anksioznosti i depresivnosti, može se odraziti i na akademski uspjeh adolescenata. U obiteljima u kojima su sukobi učestali može se dogoditi da roditelji ne prepoznaju intelektualne sposobnosti adolescenata i nisu u mogućnosti odgovoriti na njihove emocionalne potrebe što negativno utječe na ponašanje adolescenta i volju za obavljanje akademskih obaveza te je zbog toga cilj ovog istraživanja bio ispitati odnose između percepcije sukoba među roditeljima, simptoma depresivnosti, anksioznosti i stresa te akademskog uspjeha na uzorku studenata prve godine preddiplomskog studija. Uzorak istraživanja činila su 103 adolescenta prve godine preddiplomskog studija (78 djevojaka i 25 mladića), a korišteni su sljedeći instrumenti Skala depresivnosti, anksioznosti i stresa (Lovibond i Lovibond, 1995), Skala dječje percepcije sukoba među roditeljima (Grych i sur., 1992; Macuka, 2012) i kumulativni prosjek ocjena nakon prvog semestra. Utvrđena je pozitivna povezanost između simptoma depresivnosti i između sve tri dimenzije faktora višeg reda (značajke sukoba, prijetnje i samookrivljavanje) te između anksioznosti i stresa te dimenzija značajke sukoba i prijetnje. Nije utvrđena statistički značajna razlika između dimenzije samookrivljavanja i simptoma anksioznosti i stresa. Nije utvrđena statistički značajna povezanost između percepcije sukoba roditelja i akademskog uspjeha studenata, kao ni između akademskog uspjeha i simptoma depresivnosti, anksioznosti i stresa.Interparental conflict is characterized by parental social withdrawal, reduced physical and psychological availability of parents, and a negative response to the needs of their children and adolescents. During adolescence, which is characterized by numerous life transitions associated with an increased risk of stress and psychological problems, interparental conflict can have a particularly negative impact on a child's or adolescent's psychological adjustment. Parents’ ability to interact effectively with adolescents can be hampered if they are often in conflict which can result in reduced support for the adolescent and less perception of the parents’ emotional availability. Interparental conflict, in addition to disrupting the parentadolescent relationship and raising levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, can also affect adolescents ’academic achievement. In families where conflicts are frequent, it may happen that parents do not recognize adolescents' intellectual abilities and are unable to respond to their emotional needs, which negatively affects adolescents' behavior and willingness to perform academic duties. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine the relationships between the perception of interparental conflict, symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, and academic achievement in a sample of first-year undergraduate students. The study involved 103 adolescents in the first year of undergraduate study (78 girls and 25 boys). The instruments of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995), the Child Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale (Grych et al., 1992; Macuka, 2012), and the cumulative grade point average after the first semester were used. The findings revealed that there is a positive association between depressive symptoms and all three dimensions of interparental conflict (conflict properties, threat and self-blame) as well as between anxiety and stress and the conflict properties and threat characteristics dimensions. There was no statistically significant relationship between self-blame and anxiety and stress symptoms, between student academic performance and parental conflict perceptions, or between academic success and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress