Findings since 2000 about the association between the frequency of religious service attendance (formal religiosity) and sexual risk taking in adolescents and emerging adults were explored. A ...systematic literature search (April 2020) focused on articles with data on religiosity and age at sexual debut, number of sexual partners, condom use at most recent sexual intercourse, and consistent condom use. A total of 27 studies with 37,430 participants (Mage = 18.4, range: 12–25, 43.5% male) were included. In random-effects meta-analysis, the link between formal religiosity and sexual risk taking was significant only for age at sexual debut (r = 0.09, 95% CI = 0.05, 0.13) and the number of sexual partners (r = −0.14, 95% CI = −0.19, −0.09). Weak associations between the constructs of interest indicate that formal religiosity is not sufficient to protect young people’s sexual health.
The present article focuses on two main problems: determining the factor structure of personality ratings of familiar Croatian brands and determining how different levels of data aggregation can ...affect the dimensionality and the nature of extracted factors. Following Aaker's seminal study Aaker, J. Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research 1997; 24: 347–356, which aims to identify the dimensions of brand personality, this study attempts to relate brand personality to personality dimensions derived from the natural language. In the first study, a sample of 55 students rate the familiarity of 111 brands represented in the categories of “a Croatian creation” and “Croatian quality”. Subsequently, ten brands are selected on the basis of mean familiarity and representation in various product categories (food, beverages, medicine and cleaning products). In the second study, an exhaustive Croatian taxonomy of personality descriptors Mlačić B, Ostendorf F. Taxonomy and Structure of Croatian Personality-descriptive Adjectives. European Journal of Personality 2005; 19: 117–152 serves as a basis for the construction of a 90-item inventory that covers the 45 facets from the AB5C model Goldberg LR. International Personality Item Pool. A Scientific Collaboratory for the Development of Advanced Measures of Personality and Other Individual Differences. 6 June 2005. 20 April 2005.
http://ipip.ori.org/ipip/. A large sample of students (267) rate the personality of the ten selected brands using the 90-item inventory. The results of exploratory factor analyses of brand personality are discussed in respect of previous research, the lexical approach, and the possible effects of different levels of data aggregation on the dimensionality of the obtained factor structure.
Although a number of studies reported negative associations between young people's religiosity and risky sexual behavior, psychosocial mechanisms that might underlie these links have not been ...directly assessed. Utilizing structural equation modeling approach, the current study explored three such mechanisms: (a) internal motivation (internalization), (b) external motivation (peer influence), and (c) mixed motivation (collective identity), using data from a population-based online panel of 1,200 emerging Croatian adults aged 18-25 years. Observed mechanisms were gender-specific: while a combination of internal and external motivation was observed among female participants, both mixed and internal motivations were relevant for male participants. Contrary to expectations, the link between the mixed motivation mechanism and sexual risk taking was positive. Overall, the weak associations found in this study suggest that religiosity and personal faith do not play a substantial role in emerging Croatian adults' sexual and reproductive health.
Although there is some evidence that religious faith may offer protection against sexual risk taking in adolescence and emerging adulthood, no attempts have been made to systematically quantify the ...association.
Using data from studies conducted in the 2000–2020 period, this meta-analysis aimed to estimate the link between religious faith and four sexual risk-taking behaviors in samples of adolescents and emerging adults.
Five different search systems were used to conduct a systematic literature search in April 2020. Studies that contained quantitative data on religious faith and at least one indicator of sexual risk taking (age at sexual debut, number of sexual partners, condom use at most recent sexual intercourse, and consistent condom use) were searched for. In total, 35 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, in English, were identified. Random-effects meta-analytic approach was used to assess target associations among 41,758 adolescents and emerging adults (Mage = 18.9 years, 37% male). To estimate the effect across the four risk indicators, we employed robust variance estimation (RVE) method.
We found small associations between religious faith on the one hand and age at sexual debut (r = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.03, 0.12) and the number of sexual partners on the other hand (r = −0.15, 95% CI = −0.21, −0.09). No association with condom use was observed. With all studies included, the overall effect size was 0.11 (95% CI = 0.06, 0.16), indicating a small (protective) role of religious faith in young people's sexual risk taking.
Considering the limited role of religious faith in young people's sexual and reproductive health, comprehensive sexuality education remains essential for risk-reduction, even among more religious young people.
•Higher levels of religious faith were associated with later sexual debut.•Higher levels of faith were related to lower reported number of sexual partners.•Both effects were small in size (r = 0.08; r = −0.15).•There is a lack of recent studies on religious faith and condom use.•Young people's sexual and reproductive health seems only marginally linked to faith.
Numerous studies have pointed to the strong impact of stressful life events on subjective stress and indirectly on the adolescents' mental health. However, the results of many such studies contain ...bias caused by the choice of measurement method or an incomplete theoretical framework. To estimate the extent of possible bias when using self‐reports, we conducted research on a representative sample of 2201 Croatian adolescents aged 14–18 years. Using manipulation we examined the influence of measurement method and the number of constructs included in the model on the variance of subjective stress explained by stressful events. Structural equation modelling indicated that different measurement methods, occurrence‐based and severity‐based, provide a marked discrepancy in the impact size estimation. The occurrence‐based method provided estimates of a much smaller proportion of the explained variance (6%–25%) compared to the severity‐based approach, which estimated the explained variance in the range of 25%–55% depending on the model. The complexity of the tested models additionally contributed to the variation in the estimates. It is recommended that when using self‐reports to measure stressful life events, occurrence‐based and severity‐based methods are used simultaneously and that impact estimates are expressed within intervals.
Pornography has been theorized to affect sexual satisfaction for decades, yet only two prospective studies, both conducted in the Netherlands, have explored this link among adolescents. Given the ...unprecedented availability of (online) sexually explicit content and the potential importance of its relationship to sexual satisfaction for young people, we have revisited the association between these variables in a less sexually permissive society. Using a panel sample of 775 female and 514 male Croatian high school students (M
age at baseline
= 15.9 years, SD = 0.52) and latent growth curve modeling with six observation points, we did not find a significant association between changes in the frequency of adolescents' pornography use over time and their sexual satisfaction at wave six. The association between the initial levels of pornography use and sexual satisfaction, which, if present, would have indicated a possible relationship during middle adolescence, was also null. These patterns were similar across genders. Possible explanations for the difference between our results and the results of the previous studies are discussed.
Using a Bayesian statistical approach, this study aimed to provide a robust assessment of associations between religiosity and personal faith, timing of sexual initiation and sexual risk taking in ...young people. To produce posterior probability distribution of the estimation of associations, this study combined two population-based surveys of emerging Croatian adults and meta-analytical estimates pertaining to international studies published between 2000 and 2020. Regardless of the prior used, age at sexual debut was delayed by both religiosity (correlations ranged from 0.10 to 0.13) and personal faith (r = 0.09-0.13). Apart from delaying sexual debut, the findings suggest a very limited role of religiosity and personal faith in the protection of sexual and reproductive health among young people.
U studiji koja objedinjuje kvantitativni i kvalitativni istraživački pristup proučavana je zastupljenost pojedinih oblika kulturne participacije među mladima i različiti obrasci kulturne transmisije. ...Kvantitativni dio istraživanja temelji se na anketnom istraživanju 2148 učenika drugih i trećih razreda iz 28 hrvatskih srednjih škola (u dobi od 15 do 17), a kvalitativni na 60 polustrukturiranih intervjua s učenicima te devet s njihovim nastavnicima. Pored toga su u devet obitelji provedena 23 dubinska intervjua s mladima (u dobi od 18 do 26) i njihovim precima (očevi/majke, djedovi/bake). Istraživanje je pokazalo da se kulturne aktivnosti iz perspektive mladih mogu klasificirati u domene visoke kulture, popularne online i popularne glazbene kulture. Adolescenti obuhvaćeni istraživanjem pokazali su ograničeno zanimanje za visoku i tradicionalnu kulturu nadomještajući ih popularnom kulturom, primjerice online sadržajima ili slušanjem glazbe. Socijalni status tek u maloj mjeri objašnjava kulturnu participaciju bilo koje vrste, što uvelike problematizira teorijsku pretpostavku o kulturnoj reprodukciji visoke kulture. Iako je roditeljska kulturna participacija u promatranoj dobi još uvijek važna za participaciju djece, njezina snaga i utjecaj slabe i prepuštaju mjesto vršnjacima koji u srednjoj školi u tom segmentu adolescentima postaju glavni socijalizacijski agens. Stoga možemo zaključiti kako u kulturnoj participaciji adolescenata dominira popularna kultura koju konzumiraju poglavito s vršnjacima i pod njihovim utjecajem.
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