A sense of invulnerability is commonly associated only with adolescents' risk behaviors, but according to some developmental theories, it is also an adaptive response to developmental tasks that occur during that period of life. The objective of this paper was to explore two aspects of the sense of invulnerability (physical and psychological) on a sample of high school students. More specifically, the relationship between physical and psychological invulnerability in terms of engagement in risky behaviors (cigarette use) on the one hand and indicators of subjective wellbeing (life satisfaction) on the other was explored. The data from 297 adolescents aged 16 to 20 years (M = 17.33; SD = 0.834; 54.2% girls) were analyzed. The study found that boys' assessment of physical and psychological invulnerability was higher in comparison to girls' assessment.Smokers rated their physical invulnerability higher than adolescents who had quit smoking, who had only tried smoking and those who had never smoked. While physical invulnerability was not associated with life assessments in most domains of life satisfaction, psychological was positively associated with all domains as well as general life satisfaction. The findings also showed that assessing psychological invulnerability contributed more to explaining life satisfaction than assessing physical invulnerability, whereas physical invulnerability was a significant predictor of smoking frequency among adolescents. The results of this study indicate the significance and importance of both domains of invulnerability in adolescence.

SažetakOsjećaj neranjivosti često se povezuje isključivo s rizičnim ponašanjem adolescenata. No, prema nekim razvojnim teorijama, ona je također i adaptivan odgovor na razvojne zadatke koji se javljaju u tom životnom razdoblju. Cilj ovoga rada bio je istražiti dva aspekta osjećaja neranjivosti (fizičke i psihološke) na uzorku srednjoškolaca. Preciznije, istražen je odnos fizičke i psihološke neranjivosti s upuštanjem u rizična ponašanja (konzumacijom cigareta) s jedne strane, te pokazateljima subjektivne dobrobiti (zadovoljstvo životom) s druge strane. U radu su analizirani podatci 297 sudionika dobi od 16 do 20 godina (M = 17,33 %; SD = 0,834; 54,2 % djevojaka). Istraživanjem je utvrđeno da su se mladići procjenjivali fizički i psihološki neranjivijim od djevojaka. Adolescenti koji puše, procjenjivali su svoju fizičku neranjivost većom od adolescenata koji su prestali pušiti, koji su samo probali pušiti i onih koji nikada nisu pušili. Dok fizička neranjivost nije povezana s procjenama na većini domena zadovoljstva životom, psihološka je pozitivno povezana sa svim domenama kao i s općim životnim zadovoljstvom. Utvrđeni rezultati također pokazuju da procjena psihološke neranjivosti u većoj mjeri pridonosi objašnjenju zadovoljstva životom od procjene fizičke neranjivosti, dok je fizička neranjivost značajan prediktor čestine pušenja adolescenata. Rezultati ovog istraživanja upućuju na značaj i važnost obiju domena neranjivosti u razdoblju adolescencije.Ključne riječi: adolescenti, fizička i psihološka neranjivost, pušenje, zadovoljstvo životom Uvod Razdoblje adolescencije karakterizirano je intenzivnim promjenama u različitim aspektima funkcioniranja mladih osoba, a samim time nosi i niz novih izazova za adekvatnu prilagodbu. S druge strane, kod adolescenata se uočava izraženija sklonost rizičnom ponašanju nego kod drugih dobnih skupina (Steinberg, 2008). U tom životnom razdoblju zamjetan je drastičan porast rizičnih ponašanja koja ugrožavaju zdravlje (Arnett, 1992), uključujući korištenje alkohola, duhana, psihoaktivnih tvari, seksualne odnose bez zaštite (Zloković i Vrcelj, 2010). Iako posljedice ovakvih ponašanja mogu biti raznovrsne i neke među njima adolescenti doživljavaju privlačnima (primjerice percipirana Izvorni znanstveni rad Abstract A sense of invulnerability is commonly associated only with adolescents' risk behaviors, but according to some developmental theories, it is also an adaptive response to developmental tasks that occur during that period of life. The objective of this paper was to explore two aspects of the sense of invulnerability (physical and psychological) on a sample of high school students. More specifically, the relationship between physical and psychological invulnerability in terms of engagement in risky behaviors (cigarette use) on the one hand and indicators of subjective wellbeing (life satisfaction) on the other was explored. The data from 297 adolescents aged 16 to 20 years (M = 17.33; SD = 0.834; 54.2% girls) were analyzed. The study found that boys' assessment of physical and...