THE FEATURES OF ADOLESCENTS'S PERCEPTIONS ABOUT PARENTHOOD

Abstract

The relevance of the study of the parenthood perceptions of modern adolescents is determined by decreasing level of paternity readiness among modern youth. The aim of the study is to investigate the features of adolescents' parenthood apprehensions. The study involved 63 teenagers (37 boys and 26 girls) aged 15 to 17 years. Adolescents’ parenthood perceptions were studied with the help of «Ideas of Ideal parenthood» (R.Ovcharova, Yu.Degtyaryova), as well as with the method of «Composition about parenthood» (O.Karabanova, A.Shvedovskaya, modification by S.Abdullina). Such methods as the descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, Student’s t-test were used for data analyses. Parenthood perceptions are considered as an indicative basis for future parenthood readiness. The content and hierarchy of different components of these apprehensions are defined, such as: cognitive, emotional and behavioral. The content of adolescents' parenthood apprehensions were revealed, including the image of the future child, the image of relationships in the future family, the idea of himself/herself as a parent. In particular, adolescents’ perceptions about themselves as future parents were found to be the least represented in the descriptions of the subjects; they are often associated with ambivalent feelings. Significant differences in the content of adolescents’ parenthood apprehensions about ideal parenting were found. Their structure depends on gender: girls’ perceptions are wide enough and mostly they are positively emotionally colored, the majority of the boys’ perceptions are not formed and often they have neutral, negative or ambivalent emotional coloring. Gender differences in the structure and level of components of parenthood perceptions manifest themselves in the significantly higher level of girls’ behavioral and emotional components, as well as in the greater interconnection of the different components of boys’ parenthood perceptions.