Youth Culture Features in the Light of Preferred Role Models and Life Styles

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine to what extent different variables describe the style and way of life present within the student population in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this sense, in addition to general data on examinees, gender differences were identified, the assessment of parental dimensions of control and emotion, overall family circumstances, level of empathy, intercultural sensitivity, role models, preferences of lifestyles, everyday habits and resistance and (or) tendencies to depressive, anxiety states and stress. The survey included a sample of 457 examinees, students of undergraduate studies at the University of Zenica and the University of Sarajevo, with a total of 9 faculties and 10 departments covering technical, natural, social sciences and humanities. The obtained data give a broad picture of the everyday life of youth and confirm some previously theoretically and empirically justified theses about the connection of the family background of students, everyday habits, with the level of empathy, intercultural sensitivity and preferences of the role models and lifestyles of the examinees.