Hedvig Sallay: The Impact of Parenting on the Development of Dolescents’ Future-Orientation

An important developmental task of adolescence and young adulthood is to think about and set future hopes, goals and expectations. In this pilot study the future orientation of Hungarian youngsters (N=145; mean age: 21.4 years) was explored in relation to parental education. Subjects filled in the short version of the Future-orientation Questionnaire (Nurmi, Poole & Seginer, 1995). Our results showed that subjects mentioned most frequently hopes related to education, future work, future family, friends and occupations. Regarding fears, they mostly gave descriptions of future work, family, their own health status and self-relevant issues. The different aspects of future-orientation, i.e. contents, time extension and control were also analysed. The interrelation between these aspects revealed that subjects are able to control those goals (hopes and fears) that are closer to the present in time. Realising goals related to the more distant future always include more uncertainty. Only a few gender differences were observed in the aspects of future orientation. The main objective of the study was to reveal the role of parenting dimensions in the formation of future-orientation. The results clearly show that hopes and fears relating to the family are the most important issues where parenting dimensions play an important role. The lack of a conflict-ridden family atmosphere and consistent parenting attitudes are considered to produce a pervasive effect on future-orientation. Other aspects of future-orientation, like education and future work, are supposed to be influenced by other socialising influences, e.g., school and peer relationships.

MAGYAR PEDAGÓGIA 103. Number 3. 389-404. (2003)

Levelezési cím / Address for correspondence: Sallay Hedvig, H–4010 Debrecen 10. Pf. 28.

 
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