Leisure time is considered an important context for adolescent development. The purpose of this article is to investigate what contributes to the frequency of adolescents’ participation in structured leisure activities (SLA). Participants were aged 14–21 years (M = 18.87, SD = 1.23) and 44.8% of participants were female. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Results indicate that boys and adolescents who perceive the context of participation in SLA as safe, are externally or intrinsically motivated, and perceive that participation has contributed to their identity development and experiences of initiative, as well as their experiences of stress, are more likely to participate frequently in SLA. On the other hand, these findings indicate that girls and adolescents who are unmotivated to participate in SLA and who experience negative peer influences while participating in SLA are less likely to frequently participate in SLA. It can be concluded that it is important to think much more broadly than just the setting of the activities themselves when promoting young people’s participation in SLA. Some of the features of SLA that promote positive youth development are presented in this paper.

The aim of this study was to examine cross-sectional associations of protective factors within a family and school context with adolescent risk behaviors. The study was conducted among adolescents (n = 9682) from five cities in Croatia. Mean age of participants was 16.2 years (SD = 1.2), and 52.5% were female. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to examine relations between school attachment, school commitment, family communication, and family satisfaction with gambling, substance use, violence, and sexual risk behavior. Data analyses were conducted in two sets, the first using the full sample, and the second using a subsample (excluding Zagreb) for which there was data on sexual risk behavior. In the first model, school attachment was negatively associated with gambling and violence, while school commitment was negatively associated with students’ gambling, substance use, and violence. Gambling was also associated with family satisfaction in this model. Results from the subsample model were similar with regards to school and family factors associated with gambling, substance use, and violence, with a few exceptions. In this model, family protective factors were found not to be significantly related with any risk behavior. These study results emphasize the importance of strengthening school protective factors, school attachment, and school commitment in preventing risk behaviors in adolescents.

Many studies consider family communication to be one of the most important protective factors for the positive development of children and adolescents in the family environment. This paper aims to clarify whether some characteristics of the family environment influence the quality of family communication in order to provide guidelines for the planning of prevention strategies that effectively improve the quality of family communication and, thus, the positive development of adolescents. Specifically, the aim is to investigate whether there are gender- and age-related differences in the assessment of the quality of family communication and whether there are differences in the assessment of the quality of family communication depending on some family characteristics. High school students from five large Croatian cities (Zagreb, Osijek, Split, Pula, and Varazdin) took part in this study. The quota sample is stratified by three Croatian high school programs, as well as by individual program orientations within each school. The results show that there are differences in assessment of the quality of family communication in relation to gender, age, living with both or one parent, and the educational and working status of the parents. The data suggest that, in addition to the timely implementation of evidence-based parenting and/or family-based prevention interventions, there is a need to invest in high-quality social policies that could lead to a better quality of family life by increasing the chances of higher educational attainment for (future) parents as well as adequate employment opportunities.

One of the most important contexts for adolescent development, along with family, school, and community, is leisure. However, leisure time can be associated with risk behaviours such as substance use, as adolescence is also known as a time of experimentation. This study aims to determine the extent to which adolescents’ frequency of participation in structured leisure activities (SLA), perceptions of context, motivational factors, and the experience of participating in SLA contribute to adolescents’ alcohol use (lifetime prevalence, monthly prevalence, binge drinking). Regression analyses were conducted with 1.431 high school students who reported having participated in SLA. This cross-sectional study showed that perceptions of context, motivational factors, and experience of participating in SLA contribute to adolescent alcohol use. The study confirms that leisure context can have a protective effect on the substance use path. The findings may be helpful in developing strategies and interventions within SLA context.

The aim of this paper is to give a critic overview on the context of leisure, from defining to analysing contribution of leisure to developmental outcomes of children and youth, and to reach a conclusion based on comprehensive analysis. Leisure can be viewed as an important context that promotes the positive, healthy and normative developmental pathway of adolescents. On the other hand, leisure can represent a context that carries with it risk factors for youth involvement risk behaviours. LACE Model (Leisure Activity-Context-Experience Model) is a model focused on understanding adolescent development through leisure (Caldwell, 2005; Caldwell, 2011) and is presented in this paper in greater detail. Furthermore, this paper gives an overview of research studies linking quality of leisure with youth developmental outcomes. Evaluation research of interventions based on leisure did not provide unambiguous answers regarding their efficiency, therefore a need still exists for scientific studies to find answers on the conditions in which structured leisure time, i.e., interventions in the context of children’s and youth’s leisure, can lead to positive developmental outcomes. Key words: developmental outcomes for children and youth; LACE model; leisure---Svrha ovoga rada jest kritički se osvrnuti na kontekst slobodnoga vremena, od definiranja do analize doprinosa slobodnoga vremena razvojnim ishodima djece i mladih te donijeti zaključak na temelju cjelokupne analize. Slobodno se vrijeme može promatrati kao značajni kontekst koji promovira izgradnju pozitivne, zdrave i normativne razvojne putanje adolescenata. S druge strane, slobodno vrijeme može predstavljati i kontekst koji pogoduje uključivanju mladih u rizična ponašanja i/ili razvoju problema u ponašanju. LACE Model, odnosno model slobodnih aktivnosti-konteksta-iskustva (eng. model Leisure Activity-Context-Experience), predstavlja model usmjeren na razumijevanja adolescentskoga razvoja kroz slobodno vrijeme (Caldwell, 2005; Caldwell, 2011) te je detaljnije predstavljen u radu. Isto tako, dan je pregled istraživanja koja povezuju kvalitetu slobodnoga vremena s razvojnim ishodima mladih. Evaluacijska istraživanja intervencija koje se temelje na slobodnom vremenu nisu dala jednoznačne odgovore o njihovoj učinkovitosti te ostaje potreba da se znanstvenim istraživanjima odgovori na pitanje pod kojim uvjetima strukturirano slobodno vrijeme, odnosno intervencije u kontekstu slobodnoga vremena djece i mladih, doprinose njihovim pozitivnim razvojnim ishodima.Ključne riječi: LACE model; slobodno vrijeme; razvojni ishodi djece i mladih

The aim of the paper is to research the frequency of experiencing, committing and witnessing individual forms of peer violence, as well as certain consequences of peer violence to secondary school students in Croatia. Gender differences with regard to the aforementioned experiences were researched, as well as the differences regarding the locality, grade (age) and the type of school. The research participants were 10,138 students of all grades from various secondary school programs from five Croatian towns: Zagreb, Pula, Split, Osijek and Varaždin. Quota sampling was used with the sample of young men of 47.4% (n = 4595), while 4.5% of participants did not report their gender. The average age of participants is M = 16.2 (SD = 1.16). Regarding the established aims of the paper, the Survey on socio-demographic data and a scale related to peer abuse and violence CTC (Communities That Care) – Questionnaire for children and young people (Mihić, Novak & Bašić, 2010.). The results show that 38.9% of students witnessed peer abuse at least once in the last month, while 18.2% were exposed to it at least once. Additionally, 11.8% of secondary school students had at least one experience of cyberbullying in the last month. The research also determined certain differences in the frequency of experiencing, committing and witnessing certain forms of peer abuse, as well as the consequences of peer violence with regard to gender, locality, age (grade) and type of school program. The obtained results indicate the need for timely, comprehensive and continuous investments in evidence-based preventive strategies and programs, as well as psycho-social support approaches aimed at children and young people. Key words: peer violence, peer abuse, secondary schools students, adolescents.