Family Patterns and Political Affirmation (945–1012)

With the fourth generation, the kinship group reached its maximum horizontal cognatic extension. Extensive parental relationships and the achievement of the rank of marquis allowed a wide-ranging capacity for action in a large part of the kingdom. The relationship with the royal power was then always fundamental, even in the Ottonian period. Political and relational developments are therefore investigated in the different areas of activity of the Hucpoldings, namely the duchy of Spoleto, march of Tuscany, exarchate of Ravenna and eastern Emilia, especially the territory of Bologna.

Badania biograficzne rodzin więźniów. Refleksja metodologiczna Angelika Cieślikowska-Ryczko 1

The article deals with the life situation of the families of prisoners, in particular, parental relationships connected with the experience of incarceration in a correctional institution. During the realisation of the research I noticed many difficulties in finding contact with potential interlocutors, therefore I considered the families of prisoners as an environment “invisible in the research field”. In addition, I defined families of prisoners as marginalised and stigmatised environments. The main aim of the article is to show selected methodological dilemmas that can be encountered through the design and analysis of biographical research of family members of prisoners. The theoretical introduction of the paper as an extended definition of the penitentiary crisis allowed to characterise the dominant trends and directions of research on prisoners’ families. Further, it focused on selected problems of realisation of qualitative research (especially biographical research). I analyse the literature and present my own methodological approach based on the direction of interpretative sociology. Using the potential of the autobiographical narrative interview technique (of the German sociological school of Fritz Schütze), I collected 31 interviews with adult children of prisoners and 30 interviews with parents of prisoners. Finally, I refer to my own research experience and discuss the “usefulness and ineffectiveness” of an autobiographical narrative interview. Moreover, I characterise key reflections on the role of the researcher in obtaining autobiographical narrations. The article is an invitation to discuss the improvement of research procedures, especially in the area of research on family members of persons in prisons.

School-Related Stressors and the Intensity of Perceived Stress Experienced by Adolescents in Poland

Higher stress reactivity during adolescence is a vulnerability marker of exposure to various environmental stressors. This study aimed to investigate the association between a high level of perceived stress experienced by adolescents and stressful stimuli induced from school environment, peer, and parental relationships. The data used were from a cross-sectional, observational study conducted in a stratified sample of 1846 adolescents (13–18 years) in the Wielkopolska province, Poland. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires and anthropometric measurements. Perceived stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). The association of a high level of perceived stress with school-induced exposures was determined using multivariate logistic regression after adjusting for gender, age, height and weight status and interpersonal relationships (STATISTICA 13.1). It was found that girls were over three times more likely than boys to experience a high level of perceived stress. Moreover, girls appeared to be more vulnerable than boys to school-related stressors and weight status, while boys to stressors that can arise from interpersonal relationships. School environment was the only predictor factor of high perceived stress level with a large effect size in both boys (OR = 4.45; 95% CI: 3.11–6.36) and girls (OR = 6.22; 95% CI: 4.18–7.59). Given the findings of the present study, preventive programs are critical to mitigate the effect of stress from school on adolescents’ health and well-being.

The Prevalence and Determinant of PTSD Symptoms among Home-Quarantined Chinese University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: When COVID-19 emerged in China in late 2019, most Chinese university students were home-quarantined to prevent the spread of the virus, considering the great impact of the lockdown on young people habits and their psychological well-being. This study explored the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its associated factors among Chinese university students who are isolated at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: 4520 participants from five universities in China were surveyed by online questionnaire and the PTSD Checklist—Civilian Version (PCL-C) was adopted as a screening instrument. Results: Exposure to virus was significantly related to PTSD outcomes. The most important predictors for PTSD outcomes were parents’ relationship and the way parents educated, and university-provided psychological counseling was a protective factor against developing PTSD. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic had adverse psychological consequences on Chinese university students who were isolated at home due to the relatively high prevalence rate of PTSD which was reported. Adverse parental relationships and the extreme way parents educate their children could be the major risk factors for PTSD outcomes. Psychological interventions need to be made available to home-quarantined university students, and those in the worst-hit and exposed areas to virus should be given priority focus.

Effect of parental relationships on stress levels of students in a medical college

Introduction: Multiple studies have been conducted on the theme of stress faced by medical students due to the load of medical education and lack of adequate stress coping skills which may affect the students variedly. Objective: To critically assess stress levels in medical students of Shifa College of Medicine (a private medical college in Islamabad, Pakistan) and the quality of relationship between students and parents, thereby studying a relationship between the two. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the students of Shifa College of Medicine. A sample size of 315 students filled a pretested student stress questionnaire, which was made using the student life stress inventory survey consisting of 34 questions. Data was then analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results: Increased levels of stress were found to be common among medical students with a prevalence of 53.3% among our study group. A total of 65.7% students face stress due to the increased expectations of their parents. There was a positive correlation (p<0.05) between stress faced by medical students and their relationship with parents. Academics, lack of recreational time and high self-expectations were also major contributors to student stress. Conclusion: It can be concluded that there is a positive relationship between parental involvement and medical student stress at Shifa College of Medicine, which manifested in the form of excessively high parental aspirations, leading to adverse effects on the academic, social and personal life of a medical student.

Relevant Factors in Adolescent Well-Being: Family and Parental Relationships

Health-related quality of life, teachers’ opinion of academic performance and self-perceived health are indicators of well-being in the adolescent stage. Some variables, such as those related to the quality of family and parental relationships, may influence these indicators and thus condition well-being during this stage of life and beyond. In this research, the aforementioned variables are analyzed jointly. It is a cross-sectional study in which 1375 adolescent schoolchildren between 11 and 18 years of age participated. Different instruments such as KIDSCREEN-10 and the questionnaire used in the international study Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children were used. The results obtained allow us to conclude that HRQoL, the teacher’s opinion of performance and the perception of health status improve as adolescents perceive a more favorable family climate, also helped by good relations between parents. Finally, it is proposed to continue with the efforts made in the school, family environment and other areas because of the enormous potential for generating quality of life in the adolescent stage and the consequent positive repercussions this has on adulthood.

The relationship between the type of parental relationship and the mental states of preschoolers

Анализ существующих литературных источников по проблеме исследования позволил предположить существование связи между типом родительского отношения и спецификой актуализации психических состояний дошкольников. Это определило направление настоящего исследования. Констатирующий эксперимент включал три этапа. Для выявления феноменологии отношений в родительско-детской диаде использовались известные опросники родительского отношения (ОРО, PARY) и родительское сочинение. На втором этапе определялись особенности психических состояний старших дошкольников при помощи проективных методик «Паровозик», «Кинотеатр», «Звезды и волны». Применение коэффициента корреляции Пирсона на третьем этапе позволило установить умеренные и слабые связи между типом родительских отношений и равновесными и неравновесными психическими состояниями старших дошкольников. «Принятие» и «кооперация» оказываются наиболее целесообразными и экологичными вариантами родительского отношения к детям, обеспечивающие актуализацию равновесных и положительных неравновесных состояний, оптимального уровня психической активности, формирование социально желательных и гармоничных черт личности. The analysis of the existing literature sources on the problem of research allowed us to suggest the existence of a connection between the type of parental attitude and the specifics of the actualization of mental states of preschoolers. This determined the direction of the present study. The ascertaining experiment included three stages. To identify the phenomenology of relations in the parent-child dyad, the well-known questionnaires of parental relations (PRQ, PARY) and the parent essay were used. At the second stage, the features of the mental states of older preschoolers were determined using the projective techniques "Steam Train", "Cinema", "Stars and Waves". The use of the Pearson correlation coefficient at the third stage allowed us to establish moderate and weak connections between the type of parental relationships and the equilibrium and non-equilibrium mental states of older preschoolers. "Acceptance" and "cooperation" turn out to be the most appropriate and environmentally friendly variants of parental attitude towards children, ensuring the actualization of equilibrium and positive non-equilibrium states, the optimal level of mental activity, the formation of socially desirable and harmonious personality traits.