Suchergebnisse

The final paper examines evaluative vocabulary in Lithuanian and Italian book reviews. Male and female speech differences were noticed a long while ago, and genderlect term was first coined by Deborah Tannen (1990). Deborah Cameron (1998) studied male and female conversations, Daniel Maltz and Ruth Borker (1998) explored what determines male and female miscommunication; Robin Lakoff (1975) identified specific gender differences in speech, Fern Johnson together with Elizabeth Aries (1998) analysed how women talk in court, and Lori Labotka (2009) researched even homosexual speech features. Therefore, as can be seen from abundant theoretical and empirical sources, masculine and feminine talking has been widely researched previously and is still explored all around the world. In Lithuanian sources, the topic of genderlect is relatively rare. Attention to masculine and feminine language features was given by Rūta Marcinkevičienė (2001) and Reda Galinskaitė (2007) in their article "Consent strategy in conversations: functions and expression", and "Consent strategy in conversations among young people". There were also other types of articles which explored social factors influencing different genderlects (Abromavičius, Daugirdaitė, Germanavičiūtė 2003). Evaluative language in texts for several decades was explored by numerous foreign researchers (Bednarek, 2006, Bell, 1988; labov, 1991;Thompson and Hunston, 2000, Toolan, 1972, etc.). According to their definitions, evaluation is defined as a certain meaning of words or phrases, by which the author expresses his or her attitude, opinion, position to a particular event, situation, phenomenon or person. Up till now, researchers from all over the world have mainly focused on gender conversation strategies and communication models. In Lithuania, more emphasis was given to psychological and sociological factors, gender position in society and politics, whereas differences in language expression were not widely analysed. Masculine and feminine style of speaking from the evaluation perspective, by comparing reviews written in Lithuanian and Italian, has not been studied. Worth of mentioning is a doctoral thesis by Birutė Ryvitytė "Evaluation in English and Lithuanian Linguistic Book Reviews" (2008), but it researched and compared the expression of evaluation in Lithuanian and English science book reviews. Also worth of mentioning is Bachelor's thesis "Evaluation expression in Lithuanian Book Reviews" (2015) by the same author. However, in the latter work, an attempt is made to move away from semantics and go deeper into the statistics obtained from Lithuanian book reviews, besides, it lacks the comparison aspect. So it is fair to say that the subject of the final paper, Evaluation in Italian and Lithuanian Book Reviews, is a relatively new and little explored area. The main aim of this research is to figure out the differences in masculine and feminine evaluation expressions found in Lithuanian and Italian book reviews. To achieve this, the following tasks are set: to determine what lexical units, in book reviews, are used by Italian men and Italian women, to divide lexemes into positive / negative communication assessment, to investigate which words are used in the literal and which in figurative meaning, and to compare with Lithuanian evaluation vocabulary usage. In order to carry out the study, two corpora of 100 000 words were created, they were analysed using corpus linguistics approach, quantitative and qualitative content analysis and comparative analysis. After the analysis of selected texts, it was concluded that all subjects used quite different evaluative vocabulary. Women, both Lithuanian and Italian, used more evaluative words than men, they used more evaluative words in a figurative sense, their evaluation often was less categorical and straightforward than that by men. The research could benefit stylistic professionals and contribute to further genderlect research.

The final paper examines evaluative vocabulary in Lithuanian and Italian book reviews. Male and female speech differences were noticed a long while ago, and genderlect term was first coined by Deborah Tannen (1990). Deborah Cameron (1998) studied male and female conversations, Daniel Maltz and Ruth Borker (1998) explored what determines male and female miscommunication; Robin Lakoff (1975) identified specific gender differences in speech, Fern Johnson together with Elizabeth Aries (1998) analysed how women talk in court, and Lori Labotka (2009) researched even homosexual speech features. Therefore, as can be seen from abundant theoretical and empirical sources, masculine and feminine talking has been widely researched previously and is still explored all around the world. In Lithuanian sources, the topic of genderlect is relatively rare. Attention to masculine and feminine language features was given by Rūta Marcinkevičienė (2001) and Reda Galinskaitė (2007) in their article "Consent strategy in conversations: functions and expression", and "Consent strategy in conversations among young people". There were also other types of articles which explored social factors influencing different genderlects (Abromavičius, Daugirdaitė, Germanavičiūtė 2003). Evaluative language in texts for several decades was explored by numerous foreign researchers (Bednarek, 2006, Bell, 1988; labov, 1991;Thompson and Hunston, 2000, Toolan, 1972, etc.). According to their definitions, evaluation is defined as a certain meaning of words or phrases, by which the author expresses his or her attitude, opinion, position to a particular event, situation, phenomenon or person. Up till now, researchers from all over the world have mainly focused on gender conversation strategies and communication models. In Lithuania, more emphasis was given to psychological and sociological factors, gender position in society and politics, whereas differences in language expression were not widely analysed. Masculine and feminine style of speaking from the evaluation perspective, by comparing reviews written in Lithuanian and Italian, has not been studied. Worth of mentioning is a doctoral thesis by Birutė Ryvitytė "Evaluation in English and Lithuanian Linguistic Book Reviews" (2008), but it researched and compared the expression of evaluation in Lithuanian and English science book reviews. Also worth of mentioning is Bachelor's thesis "Evaluation expression in Lithuanian Book Reviews" (2015) by the same author. However, in the latter work, an attempt is made to move away from semantics and go deeper into the statistics obtained from Lithuanian book reviews, besides, it lacks the comparison aspect. So it is fair to say that the subject of the final paper, Evaluation in Italian and Lithuanian Book Reviews, is a relatively new and little explored area. The main aim of this research is to figure out the differences in masculine and feminine evaluation expressions found in Lithuanian and Italian book reviews. To achieve this, the following tasks are set: to determine what lexical units, in book reviews, are used by Italian men and Italian women, to divide lexemes into positive / negative communication assessment, to investigate which words are used in the literal and which in figurative meaning, and to compare with Lithuanian evaluation vocabulary usage. In order to carry out the study, two corpora of 100 000 words were created, they were analysed using corpus linguistics approach, quantitative and qualitative content analysis and comparative analysis. After the analysis of selected texts, it was concluded that all subjects used quite different evaluative vocabulary. Women, both Lithuanian and Italian, used more evaluative words than men, they used more evaluative words in a figurative sense, their evaluation often was less categorical and straightforward than that by men. The research could benefit stylistic professionals and contribute to further genderlect research.

The object of this master thesis is contemporary museum communication and representation. The goal of the thesis – to study the features of communication and identify perspective approaches to representation in the activities of contemporary Jewish museums in Central and Eastern Europe by the case of the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, as well as to develop recommendations for the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus. Main tasks of the thesis: to consider the essential characteristics of museum communication, its structure, the concept of strategies; to develop the author's methodology of contemporary museum communication strategies research for further study of selected cases; to conduct a methodological analysis of the case of the Jewish Museum Berlin; to conduct a methodological analysis of the case of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow; to reveal the problems of the development of Jewish heritage in Belarus in the context of the country's politics of memory; to identify perspective communication strategies and representation approaches for the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus. The usage of such methods as a theoretical analysis, description, case study, field observation, expert online interview, focus group, synthesis and generalization led to a conclusion that emerging in the 60s of the XX century, the theory of museum communication is actively developing during the 1960s – 1990s, radically transforming the face of the museum. It becomes a cultural institution in which its two most important functions harmoniously coexist – storage and communication. However, henceforth the emphasis in museum activity is placed on mutual dialogical relations with its visitor, which are realized through the museum exhibition. The development receives the museum exhibition designing, which has the goal of helping to uncover the meanings laid down in the exhibition, as well as sociological and psychological researches that help the museum to better understand its audiences. Museum communication, as a result, becomes one of the most important theoretical aspects of museology as an independent scientific discipline, determining the perspective of its evolution to this day. The variety of communication processes of the contemporary museum is a set of tools for the implementation of cultural communication, and the principles of their development are nothing else than strategies for the museum's communication processes designed to construct specific working methods. Understanding the specifics of the communication processes of the contemporary museum made it possible to develop on the basis of the communication model of H. D. Lasswell an author's methodology, which was subsequently used to analyze the cases of the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow. According to the results of the study, was determined the role of these museums as the agents of the historical and cultural policies of their states – Germany and Russia, acting as tools aimed at solving the urgent problems of a particular society. For Germany – overcoming the country's difficult national-socialist past, and for Russia – determining the problem of maintaining the unity of society in the ethnocultural diversity of a multinational state. Being aimed at such tasks, communication of both museums was physically expressed in costly but well-designed representational solutions, the specificity of which is in the need to conduct a dialogue with an audience that has low knowledge in the field of Jewish history and culture, as well as the complexity of the problematics of museums. Based on the conclusion about the significant role of state historical and cultural policies in the activities of the contemporary Jewish museum in Central and Eastern Europe, it was decided to conduct an in-depth analysis of the features of the politics of memory in Belarus, according to which it became known that in the context of the problematic processes of independence in Belarus, attention of the state turns to consolidation of the nation, which pushes into the background the need to preserve the memory of its ethnocultural communities. Thus, the preservation of the Jewish heritage of Belarus is an "external" problem in relation to the national discourse of the state, remaining on the periphery of its memory practices. These trends have a direct impact on the activities of the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus, forming a field of interconnected problems around it, which was identified through the study of the museum's case on the basis of the previously developed methodology. From the standpoint of identified problems in the development of the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus, as well as the results of the whole study, was made an attempt to identify perspective communication strategies and approaches to representations of the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus that are recommendatory by their nature.

The object of this master thesis is contemporary museum communication and representation. The goal of the thesis – to study the features of communication and identify perspective approaches to representation in the activities of contemporary Jewish museums in Central and Eastern Europe by the case of the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, as well as to develop recommendations for the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus. Main tasks of the thesis: to consider the essential characteristics of museum communication, its structure, the concept of strategies; to develop the author's methodology of contemporary museum communication strategies research for further study of selected cases; to conduct a methodological analysis of the case of the Jewish Museum Berlin; to conduct a methodological analysis of the case of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow; to reveal the problems of the development of Jewish heritage in Belarus in the context of the country's politics of memory; to identify perspective communication strategies and representation approaches for the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus. The usage of such methods as a theoretical analysis, description, case study, field observation, expert online interview, focus group, synthesis and generalization led to a conclusion that emerging in the 60s of the XX century, the theory of museum communication is actively developing during the 1960s – 1990s, radically transforming the face of the museum. It becomes a cultural institution in which its two most important functions harmoniously coexist – storage and communication. However, henceforth the emphasis in museum activity is placed on mutual dialogical relations with its visitor, which are realized through the museum exhibition. The development receives the museum exhibition designing, which has the goal of helping to uncover the meanings laid down in the exhibition, as well as sociological and psychological researches that help the museum to better understand its audiences. Museum communication, as a result, becomes one of the most important theoretical aspects of museology as an independent scientific discipline, determining the perspective of its evolution to this day. The variety of communication processes of the contemporary museum is a set of tools for the implementation of cultural communication, and the principles of their development are nothing else than strategies for the museum's communication processes designed to construct specific working methods. Understanding the specifics of the communication processes of the contemporary museum made it possible to develop on the basis of the communication model of H. D. Lasswell an author's methodology, which was subsequently used to analyze the cases of the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow. According to the results of the study, was determined the role of these museums as the agents of the historical and cultural policies of their states – Germany and Russia, acting as tools aimed at solving the urgent problems of a particular society. For Germany – overcoming the country's difficult national-socialist past, and for Russia – determining the problem of maintaining the unity of society in the ethnocultural diversity of a multinational state. Being aimed at such tasks, communication of both museums was physically expressed in costly but well-designed representational solutions, the specificity of which is in the need to conduct a dialogue with an audience that has low knowledge in the field of Jewish history and culture, as well as the complexity of the problematics of museums. Based on the conclusion about the significant role of state historical and cultural policies in the activities of the contemporary Jewish museum in Central and Eastern Europe, it was decided to conduct an in-depth analysis of the features of the politics of memory in Belarus, according to which it became known that in the context of the problematic processes of independence in Belarus, attention of the state turns to consolidation of the nation, which pushes into the background the need to preserve the memory of its ethnocultural communities. Thus, the preservation of the Jewish heritage of Belarus is an "external" problem in relation to the national discourse of the state, remaining on the periphery of its memory practices. These trends have a direct impact on the activities of the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus, forming a field of interconnected problems around it, which was identified through the study of the museum's case on the basis of the previously developed methodology. From the standpoint of identified problems in the development of the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus, as well as the results of the whole study, was made an attempt to identify perspective communication strategies and approaches to representations of the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Belarus that are recommendatory by their nature.

Relevance of research topic. Recent decades have seen a growing concern for the prospects of today's youth. Major problems of young people are related to pervasive destructive and inappropriate behaviour: delinquency, aggression, bullying, drug abuse etc. (Holt, Jones, 2008; Strachan, Côté, Deakin, 2011). These problems are the result of changing social factors: both parents work full-time, single-parent families, unattended children at home (Strachan et al., 2011). Successful personality development depends on a number of external factors: family, school, positive role models, purposefully and deliberately chosen way of self-realization and leisure time activities. The role of a family for the child's positive personality development is in particular highlighted (Vierimaa et al., 2012). Close and solid relationships between children and parents ensure the consistent feeling of security and confidence (Carr, 2014). Affectionate relations between parents and children influence the formation of close links with other people (Holt, Knight, 2014; Steinberg, 2014). The importance of attachment becomes apparent in adolescence – the period of psychological and social transition from childhood to adulthood (Nawaz, 2011). Early parent–child relationship plays a vital role in this period. Attachment and relationship with parents change in the period of adolescence, young people becoming more independent from their parents. In this period the parent–child attachment weakens as young people are faced with new challenges; they seek independence and self-sufficiency, develop their self-identity. Researchers have noted that secure attachment to family gives adolescents a more secure emotional basis which they can always rely on. Gained self-confidence and affectionate relations help adolescents in developing and maintaining relationships with peers (Nawaz, Gilani, 2011). As adolescents spend most of the time without parents, their personality development is strongly influenced not only by parents, but also by peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Therefore, it is important for adolescents to establish or strengthen the existing relationships with friends (Nawaz, 2011). The time spent with peers enables them to develop and maintain social relationships outside the family, to be independent from their parents, to build their future adult identity, express their needs and develop their culture in a group of peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Communication and time spent with peers is not just having fun in one's leisure time but also an important part of socialization process (Arnon et al., 2008). Meaningful leisure activities have a positive impact on adolescents' development: prevent risky behaviour with negative consequences for the future; ensure better academic achievements; involve into community activities and help to pursue a career in adulthood (Fredricks, Eccles, 2010). Meaningful leisure activities include participation in sporting activities, which, according to scientific research, is one of the most popular after-school activities among adolescents (Šukys, 2008; Tomik et al., 2012). Parental mission is to guide the child into activities that, through continuous participation, would build the child's self-confidence and ability to solve problems, teach aim setting and instil values (Warner et al., 2015). Deliberate practice and its advantages have been widely researched (Strachan et al., 2011; Vierimaa et al., 2012). Participation in sports is one of social activities that has a positive effect on a child's development. This attractive activity with respectable image can lead to positive social changes. Participation in sporting activities gives children the opportunity to enjoy high-quality leisure time; children become more disciplined and active in many different spheres (Rottensteiner et al., 2013). Although organized youth sports provide meaningful activities to millions of children, sociological studies suggest that the number of children engaged in sporting activities is constantly decreasing, and children's negative attitude towards sports, alienation and passiveness is becoming a serious problem (Smoll et al., 2011). Most of researchers acknowledge that parents have the greatest influence in sporting activities of their children (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Dorsch et al., 2009; Sapieja et al., 2011; Nunomura, Oliveira, 2013; Holt, Knight, 2014; Knight, Holt 2014; Dorsch, Smith, 2016), that participation in youth sport is the process where parents play the most important role (Sanchez-Miguel et al., 2013). Initially children enjoy sports for small achievements; later on sport becomes a motivating factor, an interesting and meaningful activity that eventually becomes a lifestyle (Wells et al., 2005; Perrotta, Pannelli, 2014; Prichard, Deutsch, 2015; McMillan et al., 2016) passed on to children and grandchildren, i.e. to the next generations. In order to involve children into sporting activities from the early age and to achieve progress in fully disclosing their talents it is necessary to create a favourable environment in the early years of the child's personality development and parents play a very important role in this process (Sánchez-Miguel et al., 2013; Legg et al., 2015; Dorsch et al., 2015; Dorsch, Smith, 2016). The child's success in sports can be regarded as the parents' merit too (Bailey et al., 2013). Parents can shape the child's behaviour and give the right direction (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Arthur-Banning et al., 2009; Smoll et al., 2011). Parents are involved in disclosing and recognizing the child's talent (Côté, Vierimaa, 2014), experienced joy from participation in sporting activities (McCarthy, Jones, 2007), understanding the athletic competence (Lee et al., 2008), competition anxiety and stress management experience (Gould et al. 2012), and development of psychological skills (MacNamara et al., 2010). Family relations is the context where answers to questions how and why participation in sporting activities changes the child's thinking and behaviour. Such issues as the role of parents in this process and how they cope with this role, how sporting activities modify not only children's but also parents' personality orientations, behaviour and communication in the family. Research problem. The analysis of Lithuanian and foreign studies in the context of research topic revealed the following problem aspects: only very few athlete children can remain in sports without emotional and financial support from their family (O'Connor, 2011); not all parents are interested in sports and not all parents understand the importance of education through sports (O'Rourke et al., 2014); little is known about the influence of children's participation in sports on parents, their motivation and experience (Wiersma, Fifer, 2008) little is known about the relationship between children's participation in sport and their communication in the family and with peers. Therefore, there is a need to find out how parental involvement in youth sport could be strengthened and supported by recognizing the prospects of children and respecting parental experiences. Research object – educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research goal – reveal the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research objectives: 1. Theoretically ground the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. 2. Disclose the links between participation in sporting activities and attachment to parents and peers among athlete and non-athlete adolescents. 3. Disclose parental experiences related to the involvement into children's sporting activities. 4. Disclose adolescents' experiences related participation in sporting activities and relationship with parents. Expected outcomes of research (hypotheses): 1. A hypothesis that the relationship of athletic children with parents is more affectionate compared to that of non-athletic peers is proposed. 2. A hypothesis that adolescents with longer athletic experience are more attached to parents compared to adolescents with less athletic experience is proposed. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation The findings of scientific studies done in Lithuania and abroad on family involvement into adolescents' activities are significant in terms of importance of attachment to parents in the period of adolescence. However, integrated research into children's attachment to parents and peers in the context of sport is scarce, and no studies analysing parent–child experiences related to sport and revealing the educational interaction were done in Lithuania. Thus there is insufficient scientific information in this area. Therefore the scientific novelty of the dissertation is grounded on three levels: theoretical, empirical and practical. On the theoretical level this dissertation presents and substantiates the expanded concepts and interpretations of attachment to parents, attachment to peers and educational interaction between parents and children. Until now the constructs representing attachment to parents, attachment to peers, adolescents' participation in sporting activities were analysed in scientific studies as separate issues. In this dissertation these constructs are united into an integral and continuous process of educational interaction between parents and children. A modern theoretical model of educational interaction between parents and children developed and theoretically grounded in this dissertation is significant for its scientific novelty. On the empirical level a quantitative survey of adolescents was conducted in this dissertation in order to analyse the importance of attachment and communication within the family in the period of adolescence. The experiences of parents stemming from the involvement in their children's sporting activities and the experiences of adolescents related to the participation in sporting activities and relations with parents were disclosed in the qualitative survey. Both surveys were combined by a mixed method. These complementing surveys enabled to get a deeper and clearer understanding of parent–adolescent relations and attachment to family in the background of sporting activities. It is not only new approach in the context of Lithuanian research but also expands the available results of empirical research from foreign countries. This approach was used not only with the aim to find out how different variables related to sporting activities (attachment to family, attachment to peers, coaches' input) acting together may add to the expression of positive educational interaction between parents and children in sporting activities. Another new thing is that for the first time in research literature adolescents' attachment to parents is operationalized by two variables (attachment to parents and attachment to peers) reflecting their participation in sporting activities in order to find out, which variable is more important in the period of adolescence. On the practical level the results and conclusions of this dissertation may first of all help managers of sport clubs, organizations, school staff and educators to better understand how parents – by creating positive and supporting relations in sporting activities of their teenage children – may add to the achievement of the goals and objectives and in this way educate democratically minded youth ready to actively engage in social and public life. Secondly, this dissertation is relevant and has a practical value for the promotion of positive development of adolescents and responsible parenting. It opens a new view for professionals (coaches, sport educators, sport psychologists) working with athletes and their parents to the variety of experiences and through the knowledge gained increase the wellness of athletes and their parents. Thus, the clearer aspects of family attachment and experiences of athlete adolescents in their relations with parents may help to improve the skills not only of athlete adolescents but also of their parents and coaches. It should be noted that the findings of this dissertation were implemented in practice – a new intervention programme facilitating the parental involvement in children's sporting activities has been developed. More information about this educational programme is available at www.lisinskiene.com. CONCLUSIONS 1. Scientific literature analysis revealed that parent–child educational interaction in sport is a bi-directional system. Parents influence children: they learn to be emphatic, self-disciplined, self-respected, they build communication skills, and plan their daily routine. Children influence parents because involvement in the child's sport naturally changes parents and modifies their lives: parental daily routine alters, their cognition, knowledge and emotions change, their circle of contacts increases, interpersonal relations with the child, in the family, with other participants in sports also change. Marital relations of parents also alter through the child's participation in sport, some parents start playing sports. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on financial and psychological support from parents, the child's physical and emotional security, the coach's positive education strategy, competence and authority. Educational interaction in sport is possible by more active attraction of parents into children's sport; not making pressure on athletic children; motivating them to play sports through psychologically supporting environment; providing continuous training possibilities for coaches. 2. The investigation into the relationship between the adolescents' sporting activities and attachment to family and peers revealed that athlete adolescents' relations with parents are more intensively expressed in all scales: communication, trust and alienation compared to non-athlete adolescents. No relationship was found between adolescents' participation in sport and attachment to peers. 3. Interviews with parents revealed the importance of the coach's role for strengthening parent–child interaction in sport. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on the coaching strategy selected by the coach and the degree and form of parental involvement in children's sport. Parents of athlete adolescents acknowledge the benefit of positive coaching and education strategy selected by the coach. This understanding confirms the importance of positive tri-dimensional interaction among parents, children and coaches. However, a phenomenon that has a negative effect on this interaction: parents find it difficult to admit the children's growing attachment to coach. The contraposition to close relations between the child and the coach demonstrated by parents may encourage the alienation between parents and children in sport. 4. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that parental involvement into children's sport is more important in the early period of sporting life and becomes less appreciable or unwelcome when children gain sporting experience. In the background of parent–child interrelations in sporting activities adolescents alienation from parents is more common than communication and trust. Alienation of older adolescents from parents in sports has several causes: growing children seek to be independent from their families in sports, some parents behave inappropriately in youth sport and embarrass their children. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that some parents demonstrate substandard behaviour in relation to their children, have no loyalty towards other participants of the sporting activity. However, financial support remains and important factor of parental support in all levels of sporting experience. The degree and form of parental involvement into children's sport influences the effectiveness of parent–child educational interaction. The degree and form of involvement chosen by the parents are not always appropriate and encouraging, and not always acceptable to adolescents.

Relevance of research topic. Recent decades have seen a growing concern for the prospects of today's youth. Major problems of young people are related to pervasive destructive and inappropriate behaviour: delinquency, aggression, bullying, drug abuse etc. (Holt, Jones, 2008; Strachan, Côté, Deakin, 2011). These problems are the result of changing social factors: both parents work full-time, single-parent families, unattended children at home (Strachan et al., 2011). Successful personality development depends on a number of external factors: family, school, positive role models, purposefully and deliberately chosen way of self-realization and leisure time activities. The role of a family for the child's positive personality development is in particular highlighted (Vierimaa et al., 2012). Close and solid relationships between children and parents ensure the consistent feeling of security and confidence (Carr, 2014). Affectionate relations between parents and children influence the formation of close links with other people (Holt, Knight, 2014; Steinberg, 2014). The importance of attachment becomes apparent in adolescence – the period of psychological and social transition from childhood to adulthood (Nawaz, 2011). Early parent–child relationship plays a vital role in this period. Attachment and relationship with parents change in the period of adolescence, young people becoming more independent from their parents. In this period the parent–child attachment weakens as young people are faced with new challenges; they seek independence and self-sufficiency, develop their self-identity. Researchers have noted that secure attachment to family gives adolescents a more secure emotional basis which they can always rely on. Gained self-confidence and affectionate relations help adolescents in developing and maintaining relationships with peers (Nawaz, Gilani, 2011). As adolescents spend most of the time without parents, their personality development is strongly influenced not only by parents, but also by peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Therefore, it is important for adolescents to establish or strengthen the existing relationships with friends (Nawaz, 2011). The time spent with peers enables them to develop and maintain social relationships outside the family, to be independent from their parents, to build their future adult identity, express their needs and develop their culture in a group of peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Communication and time spent with peers is not just having fun in one's leisure time but also an important part of socialization process (Arnon et al., 2008). Meaningful leisure activities have a positive impact on adolescents' development: prevent risky behaviour with negative consequences for the future; ensure better academic achievements; involve into community activities and help to pursue a career in adulthood (Fredricks, Eccles, 2010). Meaningful leisure activities include participation in sporting activities, which, according to scientific research, is one of the most popular after-school activities among adolescents (Šukys, 2008; Tomik et al., 2012). Parental mission is to guide the child into activities that, through continuous participation, would build the child's self-confidence and ability to solve problems, teach aim setting and instil values (Warner et al., 2015). Deliberate practice and its advantages have been widely researched (Strachan et al., 2011; Vierimaa et al., 2012). Participation in sports is one of social activities that has a positive effect on a child's development. This attractive activity with respectable image can lead to positive social changes. Participation in sporting activities gives children the opportunity to enjoy high-quality leisure time; children become more disciplined and active in many different spheres (Rottensteiner et al., 2013). Although organized youth sports provide meaningful activities to millions of children, sociological studies suggest that the number of children engaged in sporting activities is constantly decreasing, and children's negative attitude towards sports, alienation and passiveness is becoming a serious problem (Smoll et al., 2011). Most of researchers acknowledge that parents have the greatest influence in sporting activities of their children (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Dorsch et al., 2009; Sapieja et al., 2011; Nunomura, Oliveira, 2013; Holt, Knight, 2014; Knight, Holt 2014; Dorsch, Smith, 2016), that participation in youth sport is the process where parents play the most important role (Sanchez-Miguel et al., 2013). Initially children enjoy sports for small achievements; later on sport becomes a motivating factor, an interesting and meaningful activity that eventually becomes a lifestyle (Wells et al., 2005; Perrotta, Pannelli, 2014; Prichard, Deutsch, 2015; McMillan et al., 2016) passed on to children and grandchildren, i.e. to the next generations. In order to involve children into sporting activities from the early age and to achieve progress in fully disclosing their talents it is necessary to create a favourable environment in the early years of the child's personality development and parents play a very important role in this process (Sánchez-Miguel et al., 2013; Legg et al., 2015; Dorsch et al., 2015; Dorsch, Smith, 2016). The child's success in sports can be regarded as the parents' merit too (Bailey et al., 2013). Parents can shape the child's behaviour and give the right direction (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Arthur-Banning et al., 2009; Smoll et al., 2011). Parents are involved in disclosing and recognizing the child's talent (Côté, Vierimaa, 2014), experienced joy from participation in sporting activities (McCarthy, Jones, 2007), understanding the athletic competence (Lee et al., 2008), competition anxiety and stress management experience (Gould et al. 2012), and development of psychological skills (MacNamara et al., 2010). Family relations is the context where answers to questions how and why participation in sporting activities changes the child's thinking and behaviour. Such issues as the role of parents in this process and how they cope with this role, how sporting activities modify not only children's but also parents' personality orientations, behaviour and communication in the family. Research problem. The analysis of Lithuanian and foreign studies in the context of research topic revealed the following problem aspects: only very few athlete children can remain in sports without emotional and financial support from their family (O'Connor, 2011); not all parents are interested in sports and not all parents understand the importance of education through sports (O'Rourke et al., 2014); little is known about the influence of children's participation in sports on parents, their motivation and experience (Wiersma, Fifer, 2008) little is known about the relationship between children's participation in sport and their communication in the family and with peers. Therefore, there is a need to find out how parental involvement in youth sport could be strengthened and supported by recognizing the prospects of children and respecting parental experiences. Research object – educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research goal – reveal the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research objectives: 1. Theoretically ground the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. 2. Disclose the links between participation in sporting activities and attachment to parents and peers among athlete and non-athlete adolescents. 3. Disclose parental experiences related to the involvement into children's sporting activities. 4. Disclose adolescents' experiences related participation in sporting activities and relationship with parents. Expected outcomes of research (hypotheses): 1. A hypothesis that the relationship of athletic children with parents is more affectionate compared to that of non-athletic peers is proposed. 2. A hypothesis that adolescents with longer athletic experience are more attached to parents compared to adolescents with less athletic experience is proposed. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation The findings of scientific studies done in Lithuania and abroad on family involvement into adolescents' activities are significant in terms of importance of attachment to parents in the period of adolescence. However, integrated research into children's attachment to parents and peers in the context of sport is scarce, and no studies analysing parent–child experiences related to sport and revealing the educational interaction were done in Lithuania. Thus there is insufficient scientific information in this area. Therefore the scientific novelty of the dissertation is grounded on three levels: theoretical, empirical and practical. On the theoretical level this dissertation presents and substantiates the expanded concepts and interpretations of attachment to parents, attachment to peers and educational interaction between parents and children. Until now the constructs representing attachment to parents, attachment to peers, adolescents' participation in sporting activities were analysed in scientific studies as separate issues. In this dissertation these constructs are united into an integral and continuous process of educational interaction between parents and children. A modern theoretical model of educational interaction between parents and children developed and theoretically grounded in this dissertation is significant for its scientific novelty. On the empirical level a quantitative survey of adolescents was conducted in this dissertation in order to analyse the importance of attachment and communication within the family in the period of adolescence. The experiences of parents stemming from the involvement in their children's sporting activities and the experiences of adolescents related to the participation in sporting activities and relations with parents were disclosed in the qualitative survey. Both surveys were combined by a mixed method. These complementing surveys enabled to get a deeper and clearer understanding of parent–adolescent relations and attachment to family in the background of sporting activities. It is not only new approach in the context of Lithuanian research but also expands the available results of empirical research from foreign countries. This approach was used not only with the aim to find out how different variables related to sporting activities (attachment to family, attachment to peers, coaches' input) acting together may add to the expression of positive educational interaction between parents and children in sporting activities. Another new thing is that for the first time in research literature adolescents' attachment to parents is operationalized by two variables (attachment to parents and attachment to peers) reflecting their participation in sporting activities in order to find out, which variable is more important in the period of adolescence. On the practical level the results and conclusions of this dissertation may first of all help managers of sport clubs, organizations, school staff and educators to better understand how parents – by creating positive and supporting relations in sporting activities of their teenage children – may add to the achievement of the goals and objectives and in this way educate democratically minded youth ready to actively engage in social and public life. Secondly, this dissertation is relevant and has a practical value for the promotion of positive development of adolescents and responsible parenting. It opens a new view for professionals (coaches, sport educators, sport psychologists) working with athletes and their parents to the variety of experiences and through the knowledge gained increase the wellness of athletes and their parents. Thus, the clearer aspects of family attachment and experiences of athlete adolescents in their relations with parents may help to improve the skills not only of athlete adolescents but also of their parents and coaches. It should be noted that the findings of this dissertation were implemented in practice – a new intervention programme facilitating the parental involvement in children's sporting activities has been developed. More information about this educational programme is available at www.lisinskiene.com. CONCLUSIONS 1. Scientific literature analysis revealed that parent–child educational interaction in sport is a bi-directional system. Parents influence children: they learn to be emphatic, self-disciplined, self-respected, they build communication skills, and plan their daily routine. Children influence parents because involvement in the child's sport naturally changes parents and modifies their lives: parental daily routine alters, their cognition, knowledge and emotions change, their circle of contacts increases, interpersonal relations with the child, in the family, with other participants in sports also change. Marital relations of parents also alter through the child's participation in sport, some parents start playing sports. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on financial and psychological support from parents, the child's physical and emotional security, the coach's positive education strategy, competence and authority. Educational interaction in sport is possible by more active attraction of parents into children's sport; not making pressure on athletic children; motivating them to play sports through psychologically supporting environment; providing continuous training possibilities for coaches. 2. The investigation into the relationship between the adolescents' sporting activities and attachment to family and peers revealed that athlete adolescents' relations with parents are more intensively expressed in all scales: communication, trust and alienation compared to non-athlete adolescents. No relationship was found between adolescents' participation in sport and attachment to peers. 3. Interviews with parents revealed the importance of the coach's role for strengthening parent–child interaction in sport. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on the coaching strategy selected by the coach and the degree and form of parental involvement in children's sport. Parents of athlete adolescents acknowledge the benefit of positive coaching and education strategy selected by the coach. This understanding confirms the importance of positive tri-dimensional interaction among parents, children and coaches. However, a phenomenon that has a negative effect on this interaction: parents find it difficult to admit the children's growing attachment to coach. The contraposition to close relations between the child and the coach demonstrated by parents may encourage the alienation between parents and children in sport. 4. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that parental involvement into children's sport is more important in the early period of sporting life and becomes less appreciable or unwelcome when children gain sporting experience. In the background of parent–child interrelations in sporting activities adolescents alienation from parents is more common than communication and trust. Alienation of older adolescents from parents in sports has several causes: growing children seek to be independent from their families in sports, some parents behave inappropriately in youth sport and embarrass their children. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that some parents demonstrate substandard behaviour in relation to their children, have no loyalty towards other participants of the sporting activity. However, financial support remains and important factor of parental support in all levels of sporting experience. The degree and form of parental involvement into children's sport influences the effectiveness of parent–child educational interaction. The degree and form of involvement chosen by the parents are not always appropriate and encouraging, and not always acceptable to adolescents.

Relevance of research topic. Recent decades have seen a growing concern for the prospects of today's youth. Major problems of young people are related to pervasive destructive and inappropriate behaviour: delinquency, aggression, bullying, drug abuse etc. (Holt, Jones, 2008; Strachan, Côté, Deakin, 2011). These problems are the result of changing social factors: both parents work full-time, single-parent families, unattended children at home (Strachan et al., 2011). Successful personality development depends on a number of external factors: family, school, positive role models, purposefully and deliberately chosen way of self-realization and leisure time activities. The role of a family for the child's positive personality development is in particular highlighted (Vierimaa et al., 2012). Close and solid relationships between children and parents ensure the consistent feeling of security and confidence (Carr, 2014). Affectionate relations between parents and children influence the formation of close links with other people (Holt, Knight, 2014; Steinberg, 2014). The importance of attachment becomes apparent in adolescence – the period of psychological and social transition from childhood to adulthood (Nawaz, 2011). Early parent–child relationship plays a vital role in this period. Attachment and relationship with parents change in the period of adolescence, young people becoming more independent from their parents. In this period the parent–child attachment weakens as young people are faced with new challenges; they seek independence and self-sufficiency, develop their self-identity. Researchers have noted that secure attachment to family gives adolescents a more secure emotional basis which they can always rely on. Gained self-confidence and affectionate relations help adolescents in developing and maintaining relationships with peers (Nawaz, Gilani, 2011). As adolescents spend most of the time without parents, their personality development is strongly influenced not only by parents, but also by peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Therefore, it is important for adolescents to establish or strengthen the existing relationships with friends (Nawaz, 2011). The time spent with peers enables them to develop and maintain social relationships outside the family, to be independent from their parents, to build their future adult identity, express their needs and develop their culture in a group of peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Communication and time spent with peers is not just having fun in one's leisure time but also an important part of socialization process (Arnon et al., 2008). Meaningful leisure activities have a positive impact on adolescents' development: prevent risky behaviour with negative consequences for the future; ensure better academic achievements; involve into community activities and help to pursue a career in adulthood (Fredricks, Eccles, 2010). Meaningful leisure activities include participation in sporting activities, which, according to scientific research, is one of the most popular after-school activities among adolescents (Šukys, 2008; Tomik et al., 2012). Parental mission is to guide the child into activities that, through continuous participation, would build the child's self-confidence and ability to solve problems, teach aim setting and instil values (Warner et al., 2015). Deliberate practice and its advantages have been widely researched (Strachan et al., 2011; Vierimaa et al., 2012). Participation in sports is one of social activities that has a positive effect on a child's development. This attractive activity with respectable image can lead to positive social changes. Participation in sporting activities gives children the opportunity to enjoy high-quality leisure time; children become more disciplined and active in many different spheres (Rottensteiner et al., 2013). Although organized youth sports provide meaningful activities to millions of children, sociological studies suggest that the number of children engaged in sporting activities is constantly decreasing, and children's negative attitude towards sports, alienation and passiveness is becoming a serious problem (Smoll et al., 2011). Most of researchers acknowledge that parents have the greatest influence in sporting activities of their children (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Dorsch et al., 2009; Sapieja et al., 2011; Nunomura, Oliveira, 2013; Holt, Knight, 2014; Knight, Holt 2014; Dorsch, Smith, 2016), that participation in youth sport is the process where parents play the most important role (Sanchez-Miguel et al., 2013). Initially children enjoy sports for small achievements; later on sport becomes a motivating factor, an interesting and meaningful activity that eventually becomes a lifestyle (Wells et al., 2005; Perrotta, Pannelli, 2014; Prichard, Deutsch, 2015; McMillan et al., 2016) passed on to children and grandchildren, i.e. to the next generations. In order to involve children into sporting activities from the early age and to achieve progress in fully disclosing their talents it is necessary to create a favourable environment in the early years of the child's personality development and parents play a very important role in this process (Sánchez-Miguel et al., 2013; Legg et al., 2015; Dorsch et al., 2015; Dorsch, Smith, 2016). The child's success in sports can be regarded as the parents' merit too (Bailey et al., 2013). Parents can shape the child's behaviour and give the right direction (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Arthur-Banning et al., 2009; Smoll et al., 2011). Parents are involved in disclosing and recognizing the child's talent (Côté, Vierimaa, 2014), experienced joy from participation in sporting activities (McCarthy, Jones, 2007), understanding the athletic competence (Lee et al., 2008), competition anxiety and stress management experience (Gould et al. 2012), and development of psychological skills (MacNamara et al., 2010). Family relations is the context where answers to questions how and why participation in sporting activities changes the child's thinking and behaviour. Such issues as the role of parents in this process and how they cope with this role, how sporting activities modify not only children's but also parents' personality orientations, behaviour and communication in the family. Research problem. The analysis of Lithuanian and foreign studies in the context of research topic revealed the following problem aspects: only very few athlete children can remain in sports without emotional and financial support from their family (O'Connor, 2011); not all parents are interested in sports and not all parents understand the importance of education through sports (O'Rourke et al., 2014); little is known about the influence of children's participation in sports on parents, their motivation and experience (Wiersma, Fifer, 2008) little is known about the relationship between children's participation in sport and their communication in the family and with peers. Therefore, there is a need to find out how parental involvement in youth sport could be strengthened and supported by recognizing the prospects of children and respecting parental experiences. Research object – educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research goal – reveal the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research objectives: 1. Theoretically ground the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. 2. Disclose the links between participation in sporting activities and attachment to parents and peers among athlete and non-athlete adolescents. 3. Disclose parental experiences related to the involvement into children's sporting activities. 4. Disclose adolescents' experiences related participation in sporting activities and relationship with parents. Expected outcomes of research (hypotheses): 1. A hypothesis that the relationship of athletic children with parents is more affectionate compared to that of non-athletic peers is proposed. 2. A hypothesis that adolescents with longer athletic experience are more attached to parents compared to adolescents with less athletic experience is proposed. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation The findings of scientific studies done in Lithuania and abroad on family involvement into adolescents' activities are significant in terms of importance of attachment to parents in the period of adolescence. However, integrated research into children's attachment to parents and peers in the context of sport is scarce, and no studies analysing parent–child experiences related to sport and revealing the educational interaction were done in Lithuania. Thus there is insufficient scientific information in this area. Therefore the scientific novelty of the dissertation is grounded on three levels: theoretical, empirical and practical. On the theoretical level this dissertation presents and substantiates the expanded concepts and interpretations of attachment to parents, attachment to peers and educational interaction between parents and children. Until now the constructs representing attachment to parents, attachment to peers, adolescents' participation in sporting activities were analysed in scientific studies as separate issues. In this dissertation these constructs are united into an integral and continuous process of educational interaction between parents and children. A modern theoretical model of educational interaction between parents and children developed and theoretically grounded in this dissertation is significant for its scientific novelty. On the empirical level a quantitative survey of adolescents was conducted in this dissertation in order to analyse the importance of attachment and communication within the family in the period of adolescence. The experiences of parents stemming from the involvement in their children's sporting activities and the experiences of adolescents related to the participation in sporting activities and relations with parents were disclosed in the qualitative survey. Both surveys were combined by a mixed method. These complementing surveys enabled to get a deeper and clearer understanding of parent–adolescent relations and attachment to family in the background of sporting activities. It is not only new approach in the context of Lithuanian research but also expands the available results of empirical research from foreign countries. This approach was used not only with the aim to find out how different variables related to sporting activities (attachment to family, attachment to peers, coaches' input) acting together may add to the expression of positive educational interaction between parents and children in sporting activities. Another new thing is that for the first time in research literature adolescents' attachment to parents is operationalized by two variables (attachment to parents and attachment to peers) reflecting their participation in sporting activities in order to find out, which variable is more important in the period of adolescence. On the practical level the results and conclusions of this dissertation may first of all help managers of sport clubs, organizations, school staff and educators to better understand how parents – by creating positive and supporting relations in sporting activities of their teenage children – may add to the achievement of the goals and objectives and in this way educate democratically minded youth ready to actively engage in social and public life. Secondly, this dissertation is relevant and has a practical value for the promotion of positive development of adolescents and responsible parenting. It opens a new view for professionals (coaches, sport educators, sport psychologists) working with athletes and their parents to the variety of experiences and through the knowledge gained increase the wellness of athletes and their parents. Thus, the clearer aspects of family attachment and experiences of athlete adolescents in their relations with parents may help to improve the skills not only of athlete adolescents but also of their parents and coaches. It should be noted that the findings of this dissertation were implemented in practice – a new intervention programme facilitating the parental involvement in children's sporting activities has been developed. More information about this educational programme is available at www.lisinskiene.com. CONCLUSIONS 1. Scientific literature analysis revealed that parent–child educational interaction in sport is a bi-directional system. Parents influence children: they learn to be emphatic, self-disciplined, self-respected, they build communication skills, and plan their daily routine. Children influence parents because involvement in the child's sport naturally changes parents and modifies their lives: parental daily routine alters, their cognition, knowledge and emotions change, their circle of contacts increases, interpersonal relations with the child, in the family, with other participants in sports also change. Marital relations of parents also alter through the child's participation in sport, some parents start playing sports. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on financial and psychological support from parents, the child's physical and emotional security, the coach's positive education strategy, competence and authority. Educational interaction in sport is possible by more active attraction of parents into children's sport; not making pressure on athletic children; motivating them to play sports through psychologically supporting environment; providing continuous training possibilities for coaches. 2. The investigation into the relationship between the adolescents' sporting activities and attachment to family and peers revealed that athlete adolescents' relations with parents are more intensively expressed in all scales: communication, trust and alienation compared to non-athlete adolescents. No relationship was found between adolescents' participation in sport and attachment to peers. 3. Interviews with parents revealed the importance of the coach's role for strengthening parent–child interaction in sport. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on the coaching strategy selected by the coach and the degree and form of parental involvement in children's sport. Parents of athlete adolescents acknowledge the benefit of positive coaching and education strategy selected by the coach. This understanding confirms the importance of positive tri-dimensional interaction among parents, children and coaches. However, a phenomenon that has a negative effect on this interaction: parents find it difficult to admit the children's growing attachment to coach. The contraposition to close relations between the child and the coach demonstrated by parents may encourage the alienation between parents and children in sport. 4. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that parental involvement into children's sport is more important in the early period of sporting life and becomes less appreciable or unwelcome when children gain sporting experience. In the background of parent–child interrelations in sporting activities adolescents alienation from parents is more common than communication and trust. Alienation of older adolescents from parents in sports has several causes: growing children seek to be independent from their families in sports, some parents behave inappropriately in youth sport and embarrass their children. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that some parents demonstrate substandard behaviour in relation to their children, have no loyalty towards other participants of the sporting activity. However, financial support remains and important factor of parental support in all levels of sporting experience. The degree and form of parental involvement into children's sport influences the effectiveness of parent–child educational interaction. The degree and form of involvement chosen by the parents are not always appropriate and encouraging, and not always acceptable to adolescents.

Relevance of research topic. Recent decades have seen a growing concern for the prospects of today's youth. Major problems of young people are related to pervasive destructive and inappropriate behaviour: delinquency, aggression, bullying, drug abuse etc. (Holt, Jones, 2008; Strachan, Côté, Deakin, 2011). These problems are the result of changing social factors: both parents work full-time, single-parent families, unattended children at home (Strachan et al., 2011). Successful personality development depends on a number of external factors: family, school, positive role models, purposefully and deliberately chosen way of self-realization and leisure time activities. The role of a family for the child's positive personality development is in particular highlighted (Vierimaa et al., 2012). Close and solid relationships between children and parents ensure the consistent feeling of security and confidence (Carr, 2014). Affectionate relations between parents and children influence the formation of close links with other people (Holt, Knight, 2014; Steinberg, 2014). The importance of attachment becomes apparent in adolescence – the period of psychological and social transition from childhood to adulthood (Nawaz, 2011). Early parent–child relationship plays a vital role in this period. Attachment and relationship with parents change in the period of adolescence, young people becoming more independent from their parents. In this period the parent–child attachment weakens as young people are faced with new challenges; they seek independence and self-sufficiency, develop their self-identity. Researchers have noted that secure attachment to family gives adolescents a more secure emotional basis which they can always rely on. Gained self-confidence and affectionate relations help adolescents in developing and maintaining relationships with peers (Nawaz, Gilani, 2011). As adolescents spend most of the time without parents, their personality development is strongly influenced not only by parents, but also by peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Therefore, it is important for adolescents to establish or strengthen the existing relationships with friends (Nawaz, 2011). The time spent with peers enables them to develop and maintain social relationships outside the family, to be independent from their parents, to build their future adult identity, express their needs and develop their culture in a group of peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Communication and time spent with peers is not just having fun in one's leisure time but also an important part of socialization process (Arnon et al., 2008). Meaningful leisure activities have a positive impact on adolescents' development: prevent risky behaviour with negative consequences for the future; ensure better academic achievements; involve into community activities and help to pursue a career in adulthood (Fredricks, Eccles, 2010). Meaningful leisure activities include participation in sporting activities, which, according to scientific research, is one of the most popular after-school activities among adolescents (Šukys, 2008; Tomik et al., 2012). Parental mission is to guide the child into activities that, through continuous participation, would build the child's self-confidence and ability to solve problems, teach aim setting and instil values (Warner et al., 2015). Deliberate practice and its advantages have been widely researched (Strachan et al., 2011; Vierimaa et al., 2012). Participation in sports is one of social activities that has a positive effect on a child's development. This attractive activity with respectable image can lead to positive social changes. Participation in sporting activities gives children the opportunity to enjoy high-quality leisure time; children become more disciplined and active in many different spheres (Rottensteiner et al., 2013). Although organized youth sports provide meaningful activities to millions of children, sociological studies suggest that the number of children engaged in sporting activities is constantly decreasing, and children's negative attitude towards sports, alienation and passiveness is becoming a serious problem (Smoll et al., 2011). Most of researchers acknowledge that parents have the greatest influence in sporting activities of their children (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Dorsch et al., 2009; Sapieja et al., 2011; Nunomura, Oliveira, 2013; Holt, Knight, 2014; Knight, Holt 2014; Dorsch, Smith, 2016), that participation in youth sport is the process where parents play the most important role (Sanchez-Miguel et al., 2013). Initially children enjoy sports for small achievements; later on sport becomes a motivating factor, an interesting and meaningful activity that eventually becomes a lifestyle (Wells et al., 2005; Perrotta, Pannelli, 2014; Prichard, Deutsch, 2015; McMillan et al., 2016) passed on to children and grandchildren, i.e. to the next generations. In order to involve children into sporting activities from the early age and to achieve progress in fully disclosing their talents it is necessary to create a favourable environment in the early years of the child's personality development and parents play a very important role in this process (Sánchez-Miguel et al., 2013; Legg et al., 2015; Dorsch et al., 2015; Dorsch, Smith, 2016). The child's success in sports can be regarded as the parents' merit too (Bailey et al., 2013). Parents can shape the child's behaviour and give the right direction (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Arthur-Banning et al., 2009; Smoll et al., 2011). Parents are involved in disclosing and recognizing the child's talent (Côté, Vierimaa, 2014), experienced joy from participation in sporting activities (McCarthy, Jones, 2007), understanding the athletic competence (Lee et al., 2008), competition anxiety and stress management experience (Gould et al. 2012), and development of psychological skills (MacNamara et al., 2010). Family relations is the context where answers to questions how and why participation in sporting activities changes the child's thinking and behaviour. Such issues as the role of parents in this process and how they cope with this role, how sporting activities modify not only children's but also parents' personality orientations, behaviour and communication in the family. Research problem. The analysis of Lithuanian and foreign studies in the context of research topic revealed the following problem aspects: only very few athlete children can remain in sports without emotional and financial support from their family (O'Connor, 2011); not all parents are interested in sports and not all parents understand the importance of education through sports (O'Rourke et al., 2014); little is known about the influence of children's participation in sports on parents, their motivation and experience (Wiersma, Fifer, 2008) little is known about the relationship between children's participation in sport and their communication in the family and with peers. Therefore, there is a need to find out how parental involvement in youth sport could be strengthened and supported by recognizing the prospects of children and respecting parental experiences. Research object – educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research goal – reveal the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research objectives: 1. Theoretically ground the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. 2. Disclose the links between participation in sporting activities and attachment to parents and peers among athlete and non-athlete adolescents. 3. Disclose parental experiences related to the involvement into children's sporting activities. 4. Disclose adolescents' experiences related participation in sporting activities and relationship with parents. Expected outcomes of research (hypotheses): 1. A hypothesis that the relationship of athletic children with parents is more affectionate compared to that of non-athletic peers is proposed. 2. A hypothesis that adolescents with longer athletic experience are more attached to parents compared to adolescents with less athletic experience is proposed. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation The findings of scientific studies done in Lithuania and abroad on family involvement into adolescents' activities are significant in terms of importance of attachment to parents in the period of adolescence. However, integrated research into children's attachment to parents and peers in the context of sport is scarce, and no studies analysing parent–child experiences related to sport and revealing the educational interaction were done in Lithuania. Thus there is insufficient scientific information in this area. Therefore the scientific novelty of the dissertation is grounded on three levels: theoretical, empirical and practical. On the theoretical level this dissertation presents and substantiates the expanded concepts and interpretations of attachment to parents, attachment to peers and educational interaction between parents and children. Until now the constructs representing attachment to parents, attachment to peers, adolescents' participation in sporting activities were analysed in scientific studies as separate issues. In this dissertation these constructs are united into an integral and continuous process of educational interaction between parents and children. A modern theoretical model of educational interaction between parents and children developed and theoretically grounded in this dissertation is significant for its scientific novelty. On the empirical level a quantitative survey of adolescents was conducted in this dissertation in order to analyse the importance of attachment and communication within the family in the period of adolescence. The experiences of parents stemming from the involvement in their children's sporting activities and the experiences of adolescents related to the participation in sporting activities and relations with parents were disclosed in the qualitative survey. Both surveys were combined by a mixed method. These complementing surveys enabled to get a deeper and clearer understanding of parent–adolescent relations and attachment to family in the background of sporting activities. It is not only new approach in the context of Lithuanian research but also expands the available results of empirical research from foreign countries. This approach was used not only with the aim to find out how different variables related to sporting activities (attachment to family, attachment to peers, coaches' input) acting together may add to the expression of positive educational interaction between parents and children in sporting activities. Another new thing is that for the first time in research literature adolescents' attachment to parents is operationalized by two variables (attachment to parents and attachment to peers) reflecting their participation in sporting activities in order to find out, which variable is more important in the period of adolescence. On the practical level the results and conclusions of this dissertation may first of all help managers of sport clubs, organizations, school staff and educators to better understand how parents – by creating positive and supporting relations in sporting activities of their teenage children – may add to the achievement of the goals and objectives and in this way educate democratically minded youth ready to actively engage in social and public life. Secondly, this dissertation is relevant and has a practical value for the promotion of positive development of adolescents and responsible parenting. It opens a new view for professionals (coaches, sport educators, sport psychologists) working with athletes and their parents to the variety of experiences and through the knowledge gained increase the wellness of athletes and their parents. Thus, the clearer aspects of family attachment and experiences of athlete adolescents in their relations with parents may help to improve the skills not only of athlete adolescents but also of their parents and coaches. It should be noted that the findings of this dissertation were implemented in practice – a new intervention programme facilitating the parental involvement in children's sporting activities has been developed. More information about this educational programme is available at www.lisinskiene.com. CONCLUSIONS 1. Scientific literature analysis revealed that parent–child educational interaction in sport is a bi-directional system. Parents influence children: they learn to be emphatic, self-disciplined, self-respected, they build communication skills, and plan their daily routine. Children influence parents because involvement in the child's sport naturally changes parents and modifies their lives: parental daily routine alters, their cognition, knowledge and emotions change, their circle of contacts increases, interpersonal relations with the child, in the family, with other participants in sports also change. Marital relations of parents also alter through the child's participation in sport, some parents start playing sports. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on financial and psychological support from parents, the child's physical and emotional security, the coach's positive education strategy, competence and authority. Educational interaction in sport is possible by more active attraction of parents into children's sport; not making pressure on athletic children; motivating them to play sports through psychologically supporting environment; providing continuous training possibilities for coaches. 2. The investigation into the relationship between the adolescents' sporting activities and attachment to family and peers revealed that athlete adolescents' relations with parents are more intensively expressed in all scales: communication, trust and alienation compared to non-athlete adolescents. No relationship was found between adolescents' participation in sport and attachment to peers. 3. Interviews with parents revealed the importance of the coach's role for strengthening parent–child interaction in sport. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on the coaching strategy selected by the coach and the degree and form of parental involvement in children's sport. Parents of athlete adolescents acknowledge the benefit of positive coaching and education strategy selected by the coach. This understanding confirms the importance of positive tri-dimensional interaction among parents, children and coaches. However, a phenomenon that has a negative effect on this interaction: parents find it difficult to admit the children's growing attachment to coach. The contraposition to close relations between the child and the coach demonstrated by parents may encourage the alienation between parents and children in sport. 4. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that parental involvement into children's sport is more important in the early period of sporting life and becomes less appreciable or unwelcome when children gain sporting experience. In the background of parent–child interrelations in sporting activities adolescents alienation from parents is more common than communication and trust. Alienation of older adolescents from parents in sports has several causes: growing children seek to be independent from their families in sports, some parents behave inappropriately in youth sport and embarrass their children. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that some parents demonstrate substandard behaviour in relation to their children, have no loyalty towards other participants of the sporting activity. However, financial support remains and important factor of parental support in all levels of sporting experience. The degree and form of parental involvement into children's sport influences the effectiveness of parent–child educational interaction. The degree and form of involvement chosen by the parents are not always appropriate and encouraging, and not always acceptable to adolescents.

The work was made by Irma Kruckaite, Political sociology master's degree student of VPU Social sciences faculty Sociology and political sciences department. The subject of the work is young attitude towards national identity as a value and its conservation opportunities of globalization (Druskininkai town case). The director of the work is Dr. V. Senkus. The work size is 60 pages. The aim of work: explore what young people view about nationalism like value, what are the main factors affecting the formation of such an approach. For this purpose there were tasks raised: • Summarize the theoretical aspects of the concept of values. • An overview of the various sociological authors' interpretations about nationality. • To analyze the challenges of globalization for nationality. • Based on research results to establish how nationality is expressed and its preservation ways. Hypotheses of the research: 1. Nationality for young people today, is not a priority value – was proved. Young people understand what is nationality, but the general answer is perception that young people represent not emigration if feel safe in Lithuania. Young people need motivation, that nationality wasn't a burden but an asset to be transferred to their future generations. Nationality invaded the consciousness of people, the recovery of Lithuania's independence in 1990. But now it has spread dangerously overshadow people's material poverty, social vulnerability. Young people are a passive observer; they have simply run out of determination, as each election, promising a better life remains just promises. The talented youth gather foreign universities and to a career high in Lithuania. Frequent claims gladly stay at home. Unfortunately, our country is unable to detain them. 2. Youth opinion preservation of national identity is linked with wellbeing rise – was proved. Thus one can assume that those who can afford just to live people are concerned about the spirit of much less than affluent people. Responses felt that young families and young people today not emigration if feel safe in Lithuania. Based on data of Statistic Department for 2010 January – September emigrated 67.7 thousand countries population is 51.4 thousand more than last year same period. The main reason for this increase - immigrants to legalize their desire for the departure of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Health Insurance obligations lay down in permanent residents of the country to pay the mandatory health insurance premiums. The main purpose of immigration - work. 2009 more than 85 percent of the emigrants went to work abroad (2008 - 70 percent). Young people need motivation, that nationality wasn't a burden but an asset to be able to transfer their future generations. 3. Effective ways of promoting nationality is the psychological and economic. – was proved. It can be assumed that Lithuania, in particular, should ensure its citizens material well-being, to protect the rights of citizens, only to build a mature society cherishing national identity as an asset. The work consists of an introduction, theoretical part, which considers: the concept of values, judgments and interpretations of nationality and the challenges of globalization. The practical part presents a research and data analysis. Then there are represented final conclusions, a summary and the list of literature. In summary the theoretical part, globalization significantly changes the whole social context in structuring the personality, beliefs and values scale. On a global cultural universality is the possible merger into a single structure with specific tolerance individuality, diversity and other humanitarian values, to form a democratic political system. Collaborate and ethnic identity of the other one works, but does not eliminate far. National survival, they become the guarantor of the continuity of traditional ethnic culture is not alone, but by the state. It is the state's strength. It follows that it is the national character is the key link between the nation states. Therefore, we note that the community is based on nationalism. Nation history and people of self-concept and collective identity this is foundation of the nation cultural. Supranational integration into the structures, it is necessary to preserve and promote national culture, because this is only way to preserve national unity. It was formed by culture and fostering national and emotional ties connecting the community and the spiritual basis of life. Therefore, the state must maintain order, to enable citizens to prosperity, to ensure their safety, freedoms and rights. Thus, people of all age's qualitative interviews showed that nationality is perceived as the love of homeland, the Lithuanian language, culture and traditions. Nationality associated with the history of Lithuania and is closely associated with patriotism. Many of the respondents expressed concern about the future of nationality values in globalization situation. Worry about the displacement of the Lithuanian language, because this is one of the most important components of nationality. Interviews revealed the optimistic views of the Lithuanian national identity perspective. The Lithuanians are scattered around the world made available to other nations, to know where Lithuania is. However, it is noted that many respondents believe that as nationality like a values depends on the welfare state. Most of the respondents have a responsibility put to the government. How much less promising put citizens in public organizations. The prevailing opinion is that the state must take care of the nation in economic and spiritual well-being, secure environment, while motivate young people and their children proud of their country.

The work was made by Irma Kruckaite, Political sociology master's degree student of VPU Social sciences faculty Sociology and political sciences department. The subject of the work is young attitude towards national identity as a value and its conservation opportunities of globalization (Druskininkai town case). The director of the work is Dr. V. Senkus. The work size is 60 pages. The aim of work: explore what young people view about nationalism like value, what are the main factors affecting the formation of such an approach. For this purpose there were tasks raised: • Summarize the theoretical aspects of the concept of values. • An overview of the various sociological authors' interpretations about nationality. • To analyze the challenges of globalization for nationality. • Based on research results to establish how nationality is expressed and its preservation ways. Hypotheses of the research: 1. Nationality for young people today, is not a priority value – was proved. Young people understand what is nationality, but the general answer is perception that young people represent not emigration if feel safe in Lithuania. Young people need motivation, that nationality wasn't a burden but an asset to be transferred to their future generations. Nationality invaded the consciousness of people, the recovery of Lithuania's independence in 1990. But now it has spread dangerously overshadow people's material poverty, social vulnerability. Young people are a passive observer; they have simply run out of determination, as each election, promising a better life remains just promises. The talented youth gather foreign universities and to a career high in Lithuania. Frequent claims gladly stay at home. Unfortunately, our country is unable to detain them. 2. Youth opinion preservation of national identity is linked with wellbeing rise – was proved. Thus one can assume that those who can afford just to live people are concerned about the spirit of much less than affluent people. Responses felt that young families and young people today not emigration if feel safe in Lithuania. Based on data of Statistic Department for 2010 January – September emigrated 67.7 thousand countries population is 51.4 thousand more than last year same period. The main reason for this increase - immigrants to legalize their desire for the departure of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Health Insurance obligations lay down in permanent residents of the country to pay the mandatory health insurance premiums. The main purpose of immigration - work. 2009 more than 85 percent of the emigrants went to work abroad (2008 - 70 percent). Young people need motivation, that nationality wasn't a burden but an asset to be able to transfer their future generations. 3. Effective ways of promoting nationality is the psychological and economic. – was proved. It can be assumed that Lithuania, in particular, should ensure its citizens material well-being, to protect the rights of citizens, only to build a mature society cherishing national identity as an asset. The work consists of an introduction, theoretical part, which considers: the concept of values, judgments and interpretations of nationality and the challenges of globalization. The practical part presents a research and data analysis. Then there are represented final conclusions, a summary and the list of literature. In summary the theoretical part, globalization significantly changes the whole social context in structuring the personality, beliefs and values scale. On a global cultural universality is the possible merger into a single structure with specific tolerance individuality, diversity and other humanitarian values, to form a democratic political system. Collaborate and ethnic identity of the other one works, but does not eliminate far. National survival, they become the guarantor of the continuity of traditional ethnic culture is not alone, but by the state. It is the state's strength. It follows that it is the national character is the key link between the nation states. Therefore, we note that the community is based on nationalism. Nation history and people of self-concept and collective identity this is foundation of the nation cultural. Supranational integration into the structures, it is necessary to preserve and promote national culture, because this is only way to preserve national unity. It was formed by culture and fostering national and emotional ties connecting the community and the spiritual basis of life. Therefore, the state must maintain order, to enable citizens to prosperity, to ensure their safety, freedoms and rights. Thus, people of all age's qualitative interviews showed that nationality is perceived as the love of homeland, the Lithuanian language, culture and traditions. Nationality associated with the history of Lithuania and is closely associated with patriotism. Many of the respondents expressed concern about the future of nationality values in globalization situation. Worry about the displacement of the Lithuanian language, because this is one of the most important components of nationality. Interviews revealed the optimistic views of the Lithuanian national identity perspective. The Lithuanians are scattered around the world made available to other nations, to know where Lithuania is. However, it is noted that many respondents believe that as nationality like a values depends on the welfare state. Most of the respondents have a responsibility put to the government. How much less promising put citizens in public organizations. The prevailing opinion is that the state must take care of the nation in economic and spiritual well-being, secure environment, while motivate young people and their children proud of their country.