| Abstract | Polazeći od temeljne postavke teorijskog pristupa pozitivnog razvoja mladih, prema kojoj su podržavajući odnosi s vršnjacima, roditeljima, nastavnicima i drugim odraslim osobama jedan od najvažnijih resursa u ostvarivanju adaptivnih razvojnih ishoda, ovo je doktorsko istraživanje imalo za cilj ispitati odnos kvalitete prijateljskih odnosa, pozitivnog razvoja i mentalnog zdravlja u svakodnevnom životu mladih. Kako bi se osim razlika na razini između osoba zahvatile i promjene na razini unutar osoba, to je učinjeno primjenom metode uzorkovanja iskustava. Preciznije, pomoću mobilne aplikacije EARS provedena je sedmodnevna studija u kojoj su pitanja o kompetencijama, samosvijesti, karakteru, brižnosti i povezanosti kao indikatorima pozitivnog razvoja iz 5C modela, kvaliteti prijateljskih odnosa te ugodnom i neugodnom afektu stizala sudionicima sedam puta dnevno i to prema polu-slučajnom rasporedu. Uzorak je činio 131 učenik drugih razreda srednjih škola iz urbanih sredina u Republici Hrvatskoj, od čega su 59% činile djevojke. Podaci su obrađeni strukturalnim modeliranjem u programu Mplus. Višerazinskom konfirmatornom faktorskom analizom utvrđeno je da su čestice valjana i pouzdana mjera ispitivanih konstrukata. Rezultati dobiveni dinamičkim strukturalnim modeliranjem pokazali su kako, na razini između osoba, adolescenti koji u prosjeku procjenjuju svoja prijateljstva kvalitetnijima od svojih vršnjaka izvještavaju o izraženijem pozitivnom razvojem te doživljavaju više ugodnog, a manje neugodnog afekta. Isto tako, adolescenti koji u prosjeku imaju izraženiji pozitivan razvoj doživljavaju više ugodnog, a manje neugodnog afekta. Kada je riječ o rezultatima na razini unutar osoba, utvrđeno je da adolescenti imaju izraženiji pozitivan razvoj te doživljaju više ugodnog i manje neugodnog afekta kada procjenjuju svoja prijateljstva kvalitetnijima nego inače. Iste promjene u afektu su utvrđene u slučaju kada je pozitivan razvoj adolescenata bio izraženiji nego inače. Dobiveni nalazi u skladu su s očekivanjima te pokazuju kako su bliski prijatelji važan resurs ne samo za promociju pozitivnog razvoja, već i mentalnog zdravlja adolescenata. Štoviše, nalazi koji opisuju promjene na razini unutar osoba sugeriraju kako odnosi s bliskim prijateljima gotovo svakodnevno oblikuju kognitivne i emocionalne procese kod adolescenata, što s vremenom vjerojatno oblikuje njihove osobine, kao što su indikatori pozitivnog razvoja i mentalnog zdravlja. Stoga znanstveni doprinos ovog istraživanja leži u primjeni idiografskog pristupa u istraživanju pozitivnog razvoja mladih, istraživanju prijateljskih odnosa kao važnog konteksta za pozitivan razvoj te konstrukciji instrumenata prikladnih za metodu uzorkovanja iskustava, dok praktični doprinos leži u pružanju empirijske osnove za razvoj intervencija za promociju pozitivnog razvoja i mentalnog zdravlja mladih. |
| Abstract (english) | Positive youth development is an interdisciplinary theoretical approach that explains adaptive developmental outcomes in adolescence as the result of positive and supportive interactions between an adolescent and their environment (Geldhof et al., 2021). The 5Cs model (Heck & Subramaniam, 2009) is a model of positive youth development with the strongest empirical support. According to this model, there are five indicators of positive youth development: competence (i.e., perceptions of one's social, cognitive, academic, and vocational skills and abilities), confidence (i.e., sense of one's own worth), character (i.e., internalization of social norms and morals), caring (i.e., compassion for others), and connection (i.e., maintenance of interactions with peers, family, school, and community) (Lerner et al., 2005). The 5Cs model has been confirmed in the United States of America (Bowers et al., 2010), Belize (Geldhof et al., 2020), New Zealand (Fernandes et al., 2021), Norway (Holsen et al., 2017), Lithuania (Erentaitė & Raižienė, 2015), Ireland (Conway et al., 2015), Bulgaria, Romania, Italy (Dimitrova et al., 2021), Spain (Gomez-Baya et al., 2022) and Croatia (Novak et al., 2023). Friendship as a reciprocal close relationship based on mutual liking (Rubin et al., 2007) is one dimension of the context in which positive youth development can take place. Indeed, Mohamed et al. (2017) found that a stronger attachment to friends was associated with higher scores on all five indicators of the 5Cs model. However, their sample was university students and not adolescents, and the relationship between the 5Cs and friendships has almost never been studied.
Both positive youth development and quality of friendships appear to play an important role in promoting mental health in adolescents. For example, positive youth development predicts fewer symptoms of depression, less frequent use of intoxicants, and more frequent use of sexual protection (Conway et al., 2015; Geldhof et al., 2014; Schwartz et al., 2010; Yang & McGinley, 2021). When it comes to quality of friendships, it is important to distinguish between positive and negative characteristics of friendships. Positive characteristics of adolescent friendships include closeness, security, time spent together, self-disclosure and helpfulness, while negative characteristics include conflict, rivalry, jealousy, psychological control, and overprotective behavior (Dryburgh et al., 2021). More positive and fewer negative characteristics of a friendship indicate a higher quality of friendship, which is associated with more prosocial and less aggressive behavior (Dryburgh et al., 2021). Higher quality close friendships are also associated with fewer depressive symptoms, less loneliness, fewer social
anxiety symptoms, but also with higher self-esteem, wellbeing and peer acceptance (Chiu et al., 2021; Keefe et al., 1996; Luijten et al., 2023; Schwartz-Mette et al., 2020).
Although dynamic developmental systems, as described by the positive youth development approach, require an idiographic research approach, associations between positive youth development, quality of friendships and mental health have so far only been investigated using a nomothetic approach (Lerner et al., 2015). Furthermore, one of the key premises of the positive youth development approach, also known as the specificity principle, states that specific developmental outcomes occur in a specific context (Lerner & Bornstein, 2021). This premise also suggests that patterns of positive youth development may differ from adolescent to adolescent, which can also only be investigated using the idiographic approach.
Aim and Research Problems
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the quality of friendships, positive youth development and mental health in the everyday lives of adolescents, i.e. at the level between people and at the level within people. Here, the quality of friendships is operationalized as self-disclosure, a sense of closeness and enjoyment of spending time with close friends, and the extent to which close friends criticize and annoy the adolescent, positive development as indicators of competence, confidence, character, caring and connection, and mental health as pleasant and unpleasant affect. The research questions were threefold: (1) What is the relationship between the quality of friendships and positive development in the daily lives of high school sophomores? (2) What is the relationship between positive development and mental health in the daily lives of high school sophomores? (3) What is the relationship between the quality of relationships with friends and mental health in the daily lives of high school sophomores?
Method
The sample consisted of 131 secondary school students (mean age = 15.9, SD = 0.350) from urban areas in the Republic of Croatia, 59% of whom were girls. Two-thirds of the participants attended secondary school preparing them for higher education, one-third attended four- or five-year vocational schools, while only 4% of them attended three-year vocational schools. The data was collected using the experience sampling method. The adolescents took part in a seven-day study with seven measurement points per day. In other words: We planned 49 measurements per participant. All measures were used in each measurement. The
participants installed the EARS mobile app on their smartphones. The EARS app reminded them to answer 20 questions from 7 am to 9 pm. The schedule for these reminders was semi-random: they came every two hours. The quality of (close) friendships was measured using five items on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (completely). All items (e.g., “My close friends and I have fun”) were adapted from previous studies in which the quality of close relationships was examined using the diary method or the experience sampling method (Bülow et al., 2022; Li et al., 2021; Ng et al., 2021). Positive youth development was measured using items adopted from the Short Measure of the Five Cs (Geldhof et al., 2014), e.g., “I am popular with my peers.” For each indicator from the 5Cs model, one item was selected based on the factor loadings from the study validating the Short Measure of the Five Cs in Croatia (Novak et al., 2023). Finally, positive and negative affect were measured with a shortened version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C) adapted from Bülow et al. (2022) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) adapted from Dietvorst et al. (2021). The adolescents were asked to rate the extent to which each of the 20 items currently applies to them on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (completely).
Results
In order to answer the research questions, dynamic structural modeling was carried out. At the between-person level, the results showed that adolescents who, on average, rate their friendships as being of higher quality than their peers exhibit a more pronounced positive development and experience more pleasant and less unpleasant affect. Similarly, adolescents who have a more pronounced positive development on average experience more pleasant and less unpleasant affect. As for the results at the within-person level, it was found that adolescents had more pronounced positive development and experienced more pleasant and less unpleasant affect when they rated their friendships as of higher quality than usual. The same changes in affect were found when adolescents' positive development was more pronounced than usual.
Conclusion
All findings are in line with expectations based on the theoretical approach of positive youth development, in particular the 5C model, and previous research. The results at the between-person level describe the average adolescent and indeed point to inter-individual differences between adolescents. They suggest that close friends in adolescence are an important resource for promoting positive development and are therefore a protective factor for the mental health of adolescents. The results at the within-person level point to intraindividual
changes that occurred in individuals over the course of seven days. It appears that peer relationships influence cognitive and emotional processes on a daily basis. Over time, these processes shape stable characteristics of adolescents, including indicators of positive development and mental health.
The results of the present study contribute to a better understanding of the specificity principle of positive development and represent one of the first studies on positive development to use the idiographic approach. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate the importance of exploring the role that peers play in positive youth development. In the context of prevention science, these findings form the basis for the design of interventions to promote positive development and mental health, particularly mobile just-in-time interventions that, like this research, can be implemented in the everyday lives of adolescents. |
