Types of responsibility in adolescence
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | International Journal of Psychology |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Psychology |
| Keywords | responsibility adolescence parents |
| Description | Objective The goal of the work is to describe categories of situations in which adolescents take responsibility and to show the relationship between responsibility and the willingness to mutually help each other. In this age period, young people start connecting responsibility not only with the right to independent decision-making, but also with the necessity of carrying consequences. A great deal of delineation towards their parents occurs in this period. Accepting this responsibility is a necessary requirement of participating in public affairs and responsible behavior towards other people, and it will manifest itself as the ability to understand their problems and a willingness to help them. Sample and Method The research sample comprised 112 individuals (63 boys and 49 girls aging between 15 and 19), students of a training high school. Adolescents declared their level of creating and accepting responsibility in various categories of situations on a scale, the poles of which formed on one side full personal responsibility and on the other side full responsibility of their parents. They also reviewed themselves and their friends, guessed the thoughts of their friends and in detail described mutual help. Results By factor analysis, we have distinguished three groups of life situations, towards which adolescents take responsibility in different manners. Spending free time, dressing up, choosing a friend and a partner form parts of life, which adolescents consider their autonomous territory. In the second group of situations, including especially performance in school and preparation for ones profession, responsibility from parents is being transferred to the adolescent, however a great deal of responsibility still remains on the parents. On the other hand, adolescents consider financial provisioning and housing their parents responsibility. We have described declaring responsibility in these three categories of life situations in relationship to the assessment of classmates and their willingness to help each other in various situations. Conclusions Respondents indicated a higher amount of responsibility in situations which included immediate relationship with their contemporaries. By contrast, they felt relatively less responsible in situations related to their own performance. |
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