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distribution of love in the family and adolescent identity negation. In the data ... The overall results indicate that distribution of love and family atmosphere are the.
СЕДМА МЕЃУНАРОДНА НАУЧНА КОНФЕРЕНЦИЈА - 2016

Đorđe Čekrlija Dijana Đurić Jelena Marjanović

316.356.2:37.013.42

THE NATURE OF INFLUENCE OF FAMILY GATHERING ON FAMILY SELF-CONCEPT: A MERE STRUCTURE OR NECESSARY PREREQUISITE

Abstract: The paper deals with a relationship between family variables and family self-concept. The family variables included in the study, conducted on the sample of 300 examinees, are: family gathering, parental deidealization, family atmosphere, distribution of love in the family and adolescent identity negation. In the data analysis a factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, and mediation analysis are performed. The overall results indicate that distribution of love and family atmosphere are the most significant determinants of family self-concept, while parental deidealization and adolescent identity negation can only be perceieved as ad-hoc predictors. Family gathering seems to be prerequisite for development of family self-concept structures. Key words: family gathering, family self-concept subdimensions. INTRODUCTION According to Bracken (1996), the overall experience of one’s own personality or global self-concept consists of a personal characteristics evaluation system in several life contexts. The dominant models of self-concept nowadays suggest a hierarchical multi-dimension character of this design and imply the existence of several dimensions representing self-evaluation in certain life contexts. In their study, Bracken (1996) and Garcia and Musitu (1999), list ability, academic, emotional, physical, family and social domains as primary domains of self-concept. Each of the primary domains is in a certain way specific and worth observing individually, yet the character and the role of each can be completely revealed only when being observed as a part of global self-concept. Distinctiveness of family self-concept is manifested in the fact that family is the first life context with the possibility to pave the way for all future group identities and the behaviour of an individual in the social environment. In addition, it is developed in a proper environment, based on the complex relations between an individual and their parents and siblings, as well as strong emotions that family members either share

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ОБЛАСТ: ПСИХОЛОГИЈА И ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ

Rezime: Rad se bavi razmatranjem odnosa porodičnih varijabli i samopoimanja. Kao porodične varijable su analizirane okupljnost porodice, deidealizacija roditelja i procjene atmosfere i raspodjele ljubavi i negacije identiteta porodici. Upitničkim operacionalizacijama oviha varijabli je ispitano 300 istanika. U analizi podataka su primijenjene faktorska, multipla regresiona i medijaciona analiza. Ukuponi rezultati su pokazali da se raspodjela ljubavi i porodična atmosfera dominantne odrednice porodičnog samopoimanja, dok deidealizacija roditelja i roditeljska negacija identiteta ne mogu biti ništa više nego ad-hoc značajni prediktori. Okupljenost porodice se u istraživanju pokazuje kao preduslov za formiranje struktura porodičnog samopoimanja. Ključne riječi: Okupljenost porodice, subdimenzije porodičnog samopoimanja.

ОБЛАСТ: ПСИХОЛОГИЈА И ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ

«МЕЃУНАРОДЕН ДИЈАЛОГ: ИСТОК - ЗАПАД (ПСИХОЛОГИЈА И ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ)»

or do not share. In reality, family self-concept as such represents an individual’s interpretation of family characteristics determined by the dynamics and characteristics of a family life context. Considering the fact that family represents 'a society in miniature' and that an individual relies on the criteria of primary family to pave their way towards a broader society, one can see the clear importance of family self-concept that it has on a person’s entire life. In this study the contribution of family characteristics for the development of an overall family self-concept of adolescents is considered. As primary domains of self-concept consist of relatively independent aspects, according to Shavelson, Hubner and Stanton (1976), it is then justified to precisely observe the very character of influence of several family variables i on family self-concept. In the studies conducted so far, it has been established that family self-concept (as well as self-esteem in general) depends on a large number of family characteristics. Sears, Maccoby and Levin (1979), as well as McClelland, Constantino, Regalado and Stone (1978) indicate the influence of educational emotional environment, Coopersmith (1967) emphasizes the importance of family atmosphere, Milosavljević (1985) points out the significance of family gathering, while Opačić describes in detail the importance of quality and frequency of parent-child interaction and their influence on development of family self-concept. In this study, one can identify important aspects of family experience, such as degree of daily family gathering, family atmosphere, distribution of love in the family, adolescent identity negation and parental deidealization. According to Rožić, Čekrlija and Turjačanin (2004), the previous surveys of relations between the listed variables related to family self-concept indicate that they are significantly intertwined. In this study, identical family variables are considered in order to identify the complete character of their influence on the origin and development of family self-concept. In addition, close attention is paid to the degree of family gathering. As far as the latter is concerned, it was necessary to establish whether it presents just one of the predictors of family self-concept, whose influence does not differ from the influence of other variables analyzed, or one should observe it as an essential prerequisite in development of family self-concept. Namely, according to Milosavljević (1999), family gathering is a prerequisite for the development of affirmative relations between its members. However, no one poses a question what happens in the case of poor quality of family interactions? Whether,in that case, a high degree of family gathering alternates its influence on the whole family experience and family gathering? The aim of this study is to provide answers whether the family variables in question determine family self-concept and, additionally, what the very role of family gathering is. METHOD Sample and procedure The study was conducted on 300 examinees, of whom 156 are women aged between 18 and 30 years of average age (M=23.20, SD=4.91). The study was conducted in groups and on several occasions. After the instructions were given by the examiner, the process of filling in the questionnaire lasted 50 minutes and was completely voluntary and anonymousl. Instruments In this study there were 6 scales applied. A 10-item scale called SOPUS-BM was used to estimate daily family gathering (Milosavljevic, 1985), while for the purpose of

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СЕДМА МЕЃУНАРОДНА НАУЧНА КОНФЕРЕНЦИЈА - 2016

evaluation of family atmosphere a 16-item scale with a reliability of α=89 was used Milosavljević (2005). A scale for the purposes of measuring distribution of love was used and estimated with the qu DIPAL questionnaire containing 18 items, with a reliability coefficent α=90 Milosavljević (2005). Furthermore, a 21-item DEIDR-BM scale with a reliability coefficent of α=89 was used to indicate parental deidealization Milosavljević (2005). Also, a 20-item NEGAIN scale with a reliability coefficient α=84 was used in evaluation of adolescent identity negation. (Milosavljevic, 2005). Finally, a 20-item subscale called PSC was used as a part of questionnaire operalization SC-2 as a measure of family self-concept, all for the purpose of evaluation of self-concept primary domains (Cekrlija and Turjacanin, 2003). Its reliability coefficent was α=82. All scales are of Likert's type, with one additional five-degree concord scale offered, rating items from 1 (completely incorrect) to 5 (completely correct).

RESULTS The first step towards analyzing the data was to examine the interrelationships among the analyzed family variables, that is, to examine whether all the family variables could be treated as family self-concept structures. Family gathering scores, the distribution of family love assessment, parental deidealization, and adolescent identity negation were taken as manifest variables. A latent dimension that explained 60% of variance and corresponded to the notion of family self-concept was identified by the application of exploratory factor analysis and scree test. One-factor model was examined by the confirmatory factor analysis. χ²/df ratio (Table 4) is slightly higher than the proposed indicator feet ≤ 3.00 (Kline, 2005). RMSEA and SRMR indices show good agreement with the proposed one-dimensional model, whereas conformity indices (GFI) and comparative agreement indices (CFI) are above the recommended limits in explaining the variance. Table 1. Indicators of agreement in confirmatory factor analysis χ² Df p χ²/df GFI RMSEA SRMR CFI NFI 17.59 5 .00 3.52 .98 .09 (.48-.14) .01 .98 .97 The extracted dimension is highly profiled by all the family variables, except for degree of family gathering (Figure 1), which imposes the question of the nature of the impact of this variable. Is the gathering of a family around regular group activities irrelevant in creation of the overall experience of one’s own family, or is it a necessary

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ОБЛАСТ: ПСИХОЛОГИЈА И ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ

Statistical procedure It was confirmatory factor analysis that was first used in the data analysis. Its purpose was to establish whether all the variables that were examined had influence on defining family self-concept as a latent variable. Afterwards, multiple regression analysis was applied, according to which family gathering, family atmosphere, the distribution of parental love, adolescent identity negation and parental deidealization were established as predictor variables. Family self-concept was then considered as the criterion variable. Subsequently, mediation analysis was applied (Preacher and Hayes, 2004), according to which family gathering was considered as an independent variable and family self-concept as dependent one, whereas family atmosphere, the distribution of parental love, adolescent identity negation and parental deidealization were considered as mediation variables.

«МЕЃУНАРОДЕН ДИЈАЛОГ: ИСТОК - ЗАПАД (ПСИХОЛОГИЈА И ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ)»

ОБЛАСТ: ПСИХОЛОГИЈА И ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ

precondition for the rest of the family variables to come to the fore? In order to address that issue, multiple regression analysis was applied.

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Figure 1. Factor structure of family self-concept The results of the multiple regression analysis undoubtedly show that the family self-concept is significantly shaped by the system of family variables. The multiple regression coefficient is satisfactory R=.55 and the test analysis of variance is F(5, 294)=25.88, p