Adolescents’ relationships with the social environment as a factor of protection against risky behaviours
Authors: Bulycheva Ekaterina V. 
Published: April 2023

Background. Adolescence is associated with a high probability of the debut of risky behaviours. At the same time, social environment and the need for it can determine the potential for the implementation of this behavior. Family relationships play a leading role in shaping the behaviour of a teenager. Among all the factors of a dysfunctional social environment that can form emotional experiences or strengthen them, family types of parent-adolescent relationships, as well as the individual needs of adolescents in peer communication, are considered to be the leading ones Objective. The study aims to characterize the factors of protection against risky behaviours among adolescents. Sample. The study involved 865 healthy adolescents aged 15–17 years, among whom 120 adolescents were selected according to the inclusion criteria (voluntary informed consent from a teenager and legal representatives; exclusion criteria: adolescents with official diagnoses according to ICD-10 related to behavioral disorders; chronic mental and somatic diseases), 70 of them were (57.4%) boys and 50 subjects were (41.6%) girls. From the same sample, a study of “parental tolerance” was conducted in 50 parent pairs of adolescents. Methods. The empirical study was conducted with psychodiagnostic methods: (Shipitsyna, 2001) “Study of risk factors and protection”; modified technique of Bern questionnaire version “Ways to overcome critical situations” (Goncharova, 2006); “PSM-25 psychological stress scale” (Taylor, 1953, Nemchin, 1966), and “Questionnaire for determining nervous-mental stability, risk of maladjustment in stress “Prognosis” (Rybnikov, 1985); “Parental tolerance” (Ovcharova, 2018); methodology “Relationship profile test” (Bornstein, Girshfield, 2001, Makushina, 2005). Correlation analysis was applied to study the relationship between indicators of “parental tolerance”, the severity of stress, and stress resistance. Pearson and Spearman coefficients, their determination coefficients (r2) and the reliability of the correlation were calculated. Results. It is shown that for every second teenager, the factors of protection against risky behaviours included social environment (61.6%), family (65.4%), school (46.9%). At the same time, a high degree of need to overcome negative situations in adolescents was revealed in the search for support (in every fourth teenager); self-esteem increase (in 22.2% of adolescents); problem analysis (in 24.2% of adolescents). Among all the components of parental tolerance, 4 indicators of the cognitive component and 6 indicators of the emotional component had a reliable strong relationship that determines the severity of stress resistance. The etiology of interpersonal dependence of moderate severity was based on emotional reliance on others in 72.3% of students; self-doubt in 80.5% of students and the desire for autonomy in 55.5% of students. Conclusion. The materials of the study indicate the need to monitor factors of protection against risky behaviours, as well as their correction through work not only directly with the adolescents themselves, but also with their families, as well as the actualization of preventive work aimed at teaching adolescents to overcome negative emotional experiences with effective methods.