Role of Filial Responsibility in the Post-War Adjustment of Bosnian Young Adolescents

Abstract

SUMMARY This study examined the relation of different dimensions of filial responsibility to the post-war adjustment of young adolescents living in Bosnia. The sample consisted of 145 6th-8th grade boys and girls and their parents. The youths' perceived fairness of family relationships moderated the relation of their caregiving activities at home to their academic and discipline grades. Caregiving and grades positively covaried when family relationships were viewed as fair but were negatively related in the context of perceived familial unfairness. Caregiving and fairness independently predicted social self-efficacy. Only the fairness factor related to youths' level of emotional distress. The results contribute to efforts to understand both the positive and negative developmental implications of filial responsibility in different socio-familial contexts.