Page 98 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
P. 98
positive youth development in contexts
than students in the other grades since they had only been at school for 1
month and were hence unable to establish supportive relationships with
their classmates, teachers or participate in a new extracurricular activity.
Male and female students differed in all the 5Cs because male students
reported higher Competence, Confidence and Connection while female
students scored higher for Character and Caring. These findings are part-
ly consistent with previous results as most existing studies (Årdal et al.,
2018; Gomez-Baya et al., 2019) reported that female students scored high-
er for Connection than male students. Regarding Caring, several studies
showed that females have greater empathy than males (Van der Graaff et
al., 2014) and that females score higher for character strengths than male
students (Ruch et al., 2014). Like school-level differences in DA, differences
among lower secondary students and upper secondary students were only
revealed in Competence and Connection. Lower secondary students scored
higher for Competence and Connection. Other studies (Conway et al., 2015)
showed that younger adolescents reported higher Caring, Character and
Connection, which means our findings are partly consistent with previous
findings. As the findings are comparable to Support and Commitment to
learning from DA, it is once again important to note that upper secondary
students perceived less Support and Connection. This suggests that they
might be overlooked by their peers due to not seeing (or even not being ac-
quainted with) their classmates or their teachers were not paying enough
attention to them or maybe they did not have a good relationship with their
family or were unable to look for support in their community due to the
COVID-19 restrictions. Further, additional research is needed to under-
stand particular differences in Competence, Connection, Commitment to
learning, Social competencies and Positive identity to recognise the possi-
ble effect of the COVID-19 restrictions.
Overall, Slovenian adolescents reported high DA and the 5Cs regard-
less of gender and school type since most of the constructs of DA score
higher than 3 on a scale of 1–4, indicating they mostly stated that they expe-
rience all assets often. The only exception is Constructive use of time where
we must stress that it was almost impossible to be involved in extracurric-
ular activities or to spend time with one’s friends because of the COVID-19
restrictions. In addition, almost all scores for the 5Cs were higher than 3.5
on a scale of 1–5 (except for Competence). These findings indicate that most
young Slovenians are on a good and stable path towards their future despite
school transitions, the pandemic, or other unpleasant events in their life.
98
than students in the other grades since they had only been at school for 1
month and were hence unable to establish supportive relationships with
their classmates, teachers or participate in a new extracurricular activity.
Male and female students differed in all the 5Cs because male students
reported higher Competence, Confidence and Connection while female
students scored higher for Character and Caring. These findings are part-
ly consistent with previous results as most existing studies (Årdal et al.,
2018; Gomez-Baya et al., 2019) reported that female students scored high-
er for Connection than male students. Regarding Caring, several studies
showed that females have greater empathy than males (Van der Graaff et
al., 2014) and that females score higher for character strengths than male
students (Ruch et al., 2014). Like school-level differences in DA, differences
among lower secondary students and upper secondary students were only
revealed in Competence and Connection. Lower secondary students scored
higher for Competence and Connection. Other studies (Conway et al., 2015)
showed that younger adolescents reported higher Caring, Character and
Connection, which means our findings are partly consistent with previous
findings. As the findings are comparable to Support and Commitment to
learning from DA, it is once again important to note that upper secondary
students perceived less Support and Connection. This suggests that they
might be overlooked by their peers due to not seeing (or even not being ac-
quainted with) their classmates or their teachers were not paying enough
attention to them or maybe they did not have a good relationship with their
family or were unable to look for support in their community due to the
COVID-19 restrictions. Further, additional research is needed to under-
stand particular differences in Competence, Connection, Commitment to
learning, Social competencies and Positive identity to recognise the possi-
ble effect of the COVID-19 restrictions.
Overall, Slovenian adolescents reported high DA and the 5Cs regard-
less of gender and school type since most of the constructs of DA score
higher than 3 on a scale of 1–4, indicating they mostly stated that they expe-
rience all assets often. The only exception is Constructive use of time where
we must stress that it was almost impossible to be involved in extracurric-
ular activities or to spend time with one’s friends because of the COVID-19
restrictions. In addition, almost all scores for the 5Cs were higher than 3.5
on a scale of 1–5 (except for Competence). These findings indicate that most
young Slovenians are on a good and stable path towards their future despite
school transitions, the pandemic, or other unpleasant events in their life.
98
