The report based on the present text was made at a scientific ference (2003) commemorating the 180th anniversary of the source of Lithuanian periodicals. It addresses historical features of the mass media and their social factors which determined the maturity of the Lithi public opinion. The analysis of the tendencies (from the 19th to 20th c.) and traditions of the Lithuanian mass media is focused on a historical legal, economic, ethic and academic aspect. All historical leaders of Lithuanian society are closely connected with publishing, publicistic and editting work in newspapers. In the between the 19th and the early 20th century politicians felt the bitterness and price of bans, they possibly even formed their "taste". Despite the fact that in 1904 the right to the Lithuanian press was obtained from the Emperor with the proof in the courts of law of the absurdity and legal irrationality of the bans and of Russian law as contradictory and the Lithuanian publicistic writing disclosed it as antagonistic to the Lithuanian nation, nevertheless the experience of bans found its way the period of independent Lithuania. Almost the entire 20th century (except 6 months in 1926 and later from 1989) in the history of national periodicals is, unfortunately, coloured by censorship or / and the so-called self-censorship marks. In the process of the formation of national jurisdiction, starting with the adoption of laws in 1918, the freedom of the press was designated in the initial basic laws of the Constitution as well as in the first State Constitution (1922). Unfortunately, on the basis of others, self-conflicting acts of law, as the analysis of the relationship between press and state shows, it was next to impossible to realise some of the articles prescribed by the Constitution. The Lithuanian press from the very first law on the press (1919) was also regulated by other laws, and sometimes simply conflicting decisions, setting precedents for appropriate institutions to superintend the work of publishers or editors, to instruct them what and how they should present to society, in case of need - to punish them. In 1940 the occupants were able to freely make use of some ban-reflecting, still in force, acts of law of the Republic of Lithuania in order to keep the press in their hands until the so-called "admission" to the structure of the USSR (03/03/1940). Our experience in the sphere of regulation governing public information since the proclamation of Independence in 1918 is based on four press or society information laws together with the latest (2000) edition of the law. Professional journalists, however, lack a seperate legal definition. Their professional status was also unspecified until 1940. Professional requirements for an education level and an ability to work in the sphere of information remain unspecified for a journalist by the legislator since 1990. Freedom has been deceptively granted to the media, thus a journalist has been also left for the freedom of the owners of those mass media. In the legal system of Lithuania, a journalist has no status (reporter, correspondent, reviewer/analyst/critic/editor). The system of the Lithuanian mass media cannot boast of any clear and strong tradition of the party periodicals. It speaks of a distinct lack of a political culture which now determines vague and doubtful means for the furnishing of information, contrastingly estimated by sociologists (it is particularly evident in the background of every election compaign). If a party cannot publish its traditional press, it cannot rally its supporters. In such a case, the party is "bought" or it buys the press.
The report based on the present text was made at a scientific ference (2003) commemorating the 180th anniversary of the source of Lithuanian periodicals. It addresses historical features of the mass media and their social factors which determined the maturity of the Lithi public opinion. The analysis of the tendencies (from the 19th to 20th c.) and traditions of the Lithuanian mass media is focused on a historical legal, economic, ethic and academic aspect. All historical leaders of Lithuanian society are closely connected with publishing, publicistic and editting work in newspapers. In the between the 19th and the early 20th century politicians felt the bitterness and price of bans, they possibly even formed their "taste". Despite the fact that in 1904 the right to the Lithuanian press was obtained from the Emperor with the proof in the courts of law of the absurdity and legal irrationality of the bans and of Russian law as contradictory and the Lithuanian publicistic writing disclosed it as antagonistic to the Lithuanian nation, nevertheless the experience of bans found its way the period of independent Lithuania. Almost the entire 20th century (except 6 months in 1926 and later from 1989) in the history of national periodicals is, unfortunately, coloured by censorship or / and the so-called self-censorship marks. In the process of the formation of national jurisdiction, starting with the adoption of laws in 1918, the freedom of the press was designated in the initial basic laws of the Constitution as well as in the first State Constitution (1922). Unfortunately, on the basis of others, self-conflicting acts of law, as the analysis of the relationship between press and state shows, it was next to impossible to realise some of the articles prescribed by the Constitution. The Lithuanian press from the very first law on the press (1919) was also regulated by other laws, and sometimes simply conflicting decisions, setting precedents for appropriate institutions to superintend the work of publishers or editors, to instruct them what and how they should present to society, in case of need - to punish them. In 1940 the occupants were able to freely make use of some ban-reflecting, still in force, acts of law of the Republic of Lithuania in order to keep the press in their hands until the so-called "admission" to the structure of the USSR (03/03/1940). Our experience in the sphere of regulation governing public information since the proclamation of Independence in 1918 is based on four press or society information laws together with the latest (2000) edition of the law. Professional journalists, however, lack a seperate legal definition. Their professional status was also unspecified until 1940. Professional requirements for an education level and an ability to work in the sphere of information remain unspecified for a journalist by the legislator since 1990. Freedom has been deceptively granted to the media, thus a journalist has been also left for the freedom of the owners of those mass media. In the legal system of Lithuania, a journalist has no status (reporter, correspondent, reviewer/analyst/critic/editor). The system of the Lithuanian mass media cannot boast of any clear and strong tradition of the party periodicals. It speaks of a distinct lack of a political culture which now determines vague and doubtful means for the furnishing of information, contrastingly estimated by sociologists (it is particularly evident in the background of every election compaign). If a party cannot publish its traditional press, it cannot rally its supporters. In such a case, the party is "bought" or it buys the press.
The report based on the present text was made at a scientific ference (2003) commemorating the 180th anniversary of the source of Lithuanian periodicals. It addresses historical features of the mass media and their social factors which determined the maturity of the Lithi public opinion. The analysis of the tendencies (from the 19th to 20th c.) and traditions of the Lithuanian mass media is focused on a historical legal, economic, ethic and academic aspect. All historical leaders of Lithuanian society are closely connected with publishing, publicistic and editting work in newspapers. In the between the 19th and the early 20th century politicians felt the bitterness and price of bans, they possibly even formed their "taste". Despite the fact that in 1904 the right to the Lithuanian press was obtained from the Emperor with the proof in the courts of law of the absurdity and legal irrationality of the bans and of Russian law as contradictory and the Lithuanian publicistic writing disclosed it as antagonistic to the Lithuanian nation, nevertheless the experience of bans found its way the period of independent Lithuania. Almost the entire 20th century (except 6 months in 1926 and later from 1989) in the history of national periodicals is, unfortunately, coloured by censorship or / and the so-called self-censorship marks. In the process of the formation of national jurisdiction, starting with the adoption of laws in 1918, the freedom of the press was designated in the initial basic laws of the Constitution as well as in the first State Constitution (1922). Unfortunately, on the basis of others, self-conflicting acts of law, as the analysis of the relationship between press and state shows, it was next to impossible to realise some of the articles prescribed by the Constitution. The Lithuanian press from the very first law on the press (1919) was also regulated by other laws, and sometimes simply conflicting decisions, setting precedents for appropriate institutions to superintend the work of publishers or editors, to instruct them what and how they should present to society, in case of need - to punish them. In 1940 the occupants were able to freely make use of some ban-reflecting, still in force, acts of law of the Republic of Lithuania in order to keep the press in their hands until the so-called "admission" to the structure of the USSR (03/03/1940). Our experience in the sphere of regulation governing public information since the proclamation of Independence in 1918 is based on four press or society information laws together with the latest (2000) edition of the law. Professional journalists, however, lack a seperate legal definition. Their professional status was also unspecified until 1940. Professional requirements for an education level and an ability to work in the sphere of information remain unspecified for a journalist by the legislator since 1990. Freedom has been deceptively granted to the media, thus a journalist has been also left for the freedom of the owners of those mass media. In the legal system of Lithuania, a journalist has no status (reporter, correspondent, reviewer/analyst/critic/editor). The system of the Lithuanian mass media cannot boast of any clear and strong tradition of the party periodicals. It speaks of a distinct lack of a political culture which now determines vague and doubtful means for the furnishing of information, contrastingly estimated by sociologists (it is particularly evident in the background of every election compaign). If a party cannot publish its traditional press, it cannot rally its supporters. In such a case, the party is "bought" or it buys the press.
Attorney is a person who defends human rights and freedoms, goes between law and clients interests. Not only the law, but also the public matter, provides the requirements of legal profession. According to the legal acts, one of the main requirements of becoming a qualified and trusted attorney is excellent reputation. Nowadays, in the modern society of the 21st century, people are surrounded by social networks and public mass media information, which develops the opinion of general public. All kinds of information are reachable within a matter of time. Because of this reason, the reputation of a lawyer is valued not only by laws and governments, but also by the clients who care about their future. Impeccable reputation is something that cannot be touched or easily deleted, but can make a significant impact on attorney's legal career. On the 1st of May, 2004 Lithuania became a member of the European Union (EU), which lead to ratification of legal acts and legislations as well as acceptance of the main EU's democracy principles. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for one's private and family life. It states that a person has a right to choose his own profession and occupation. After Lithuania became a member of the EU, the political changes also made an impact on the legislature. The requirements of joining the Lithuanian Bar Association were reduced to follow the politics of the Union. Despite the fact that attorney's functions are highly valued in the norms of society, the new members of Lithuanian Bar Association are expected to meet the minimum requirements. The Supreme Court of Lithuania has stated that: "…there are no offences that would be as serious to unconditionally prevent an attorney to apply for a right to resume doing lawyer activity…". For this reason, even a disreputable person who has been convicted of a criminal offence, can become an attorney. The goal of this thesis is to answer the main question: Does the deletion of attorney's previous conviction mean, ipso facto, the recovery of excellent reputation? In order to achieve the goal of the thesis, following tasks are raised: 1. To examine the historical development of the Bar; 2. To define the lawyer's role in society and legislative framework; 3. To describe the concept of an impeccable reputation in the legal and moral contexts; 4. To analyze lawyer's conviction problem and the opportunities of vocational rehabilitation in both public morality and law contexts. The topic has been examined in contexts of both legal and moral norms. Conviction of someone of an important position in the society may cause negative public discussions. It goes without saying, that it is extremely difficult to gain excellent reputation. However, it can be ruined by one simple mistake. It has been concluded, that a formal deletion of lawyer's criminal records does not bring back the status of an exemplary attorney; in relation to not only the laws, but also the overall public moral principles. Despite the fact, that occupation of an attorney is protected by the law, the attorneys themselves are responsible for their actions which might end up in court. For an attorney that has had legal offenses, it is required by the law to complete some sort of rehabilitation. By the time, there is no accurate system in place that would define further steps for the lawyer. Furthermore, the term of rehabilitation is far from being clear; regarding the way it should run, the intensity, the operation period, etc. For that reason, the conditions might be made favorable for the attorneys who tend to carry out criminal acts. Because of the idea that a lawyer is a representative of a client, all the questions concerning his reputation should be critically valued by the society. Nevertheless, at the moment, the future of an attorney that has been convicted depends on a legislator and not on the client, which is the main reason the whole profession exists itself. Therefore, a lawyer with criminal records discredits the image of the Lithuanian Bar Association as well as causing a decrease of people's trust. According to social surveys, in recent years the rate of the trust in the Lithuanian Bar Association is dropping. The main criteria based on which lawyers are being chosen by the clients are: recommendations and the reputation of an attorney. In order to increase people's trust, the legislator should consider taking account of not only the international acts of law. The reputation and rehabilitation should be regulated by the public demands, while taking into consideration the seriousness of the offense. Regarding all these aspects, the hypothesis that a deletion of lawyer's criminal offenses does not mean that they retrieve their excellent reputation – was approved.
Attorney is a person who defends human rights and freedoms, goes between law and clients interests. Not only the law, but also the public matter, provides the requirements of legal profession. According to the legal acts, one of the main requirements of becoming a qualified and trusted attorney is excellent reputation. Nowadays, in the modern society of the 21st century, people are surrounded by social networks and public mass media information, which develops the opinion of general public. All kinds of information are reachable within a matter of time. Because of this reason, the reputation of a lawyer is valued not only by laws and governments, but also by the clients who care about their future. Impeccable reputation is something that cannot be touched or easily deleted, but can make a significant impact on attorney's legal career. On the 1st of May, 2004 Lithuania became a member of the European Union (EU), which lead to ratification of legal acts and legislations as well as acceptance of the main EU's democracy principles. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for one's private and family life. It states that a person has a right to choose his own profession and occupation. After Lithuania became a member of the EU, the political changes also made an impact on the legislature. The requirements of joining the Lithuanian Bar Association were reduced to follow the politics of the Union. Despite the fact that attorney's functions are highly valued in the norms of society, the new members of Lithuanian Bar Association are expected to meet the minimum requirements. The Supreme Court of Lithuania has stated that: "…there are no offences that would be as serious to unconditionally prevent an attorney to apply for a right to resume doing lawyer activity…". For this reason, even a disreputable person who has been convicted of a criminal offence, can become an attorney. The goal of this thesis is to answer the main question: Does the deletion of attorney's previous conviction mean, ipso facto, the recovery of excellent reputation? In order to achieve the goal of the thesis, following tasks are raised: 1. To examine the historical development of the Bar; 2. To define the lawyer's role in society and legislative framework; 3. To describe the concept of an impeccable reputation in the legal and moral contexts; 4. To analyze lawyer's conviction problem and the opportunities of vocational rehabilitation in both public morality and law contexts. The topic has been examined in contexts of both legal and moral norms. Conviction of someone of an important position in the society may cause negative public discussions. It goes without saying, that it is extremely difficult to gain excellent reputation. However, it can be ruined by one simple mistake. It has been concluded, that a formal deletion of lawyer's criminal records does not bring back the status of an exemplary attorney; in relation to not only the laws, but also the overall public moral principles. Despite the fact, that occupation of an attorney is protected by the law, the attorneys themselves are responsible for their actions which might end up in court. For an attorney that has had legal offenses, it is required by the law to complete some sort of rehabilitation. By the time, there is no accurate system in place that would define further steps for the lawyer. Furthermore, the term of rehabilitation is far from being clear; regarding the way it should run, the intensity, the operation period, etc. For that reason, the conditions might be made favorable for the attorneys who tend to carry out criminal acts. Because of the idea that a lawyer is a representative of a client, all the questions concerning his reputation should be critically valued by the society. Nevertheless, at the moment, the future of an attorney that has been convicted depends on a legislator and not on the client, which is the main reason the whole profession exists itself. Therefore, a lawyer with criminal records discredits the image of the Lithuanian Bar Association as well as causing a decrease of people's trust. According to social surveys, in recent years the rate of the trust in the Lithuanian Bar Association is dropping. The main criteria based on which lawyers are being chosen by the clients are: recommendations and the reputation of an attorney. In order to increase people's trust, the legislator should consider taking account of not only the international acts of law. The reputation and rehabilitation should be regulated by the public demands, while taking into consideration the seriousness of the offense. Regarding all these aspects, the hypothesis that a deletion of lawyer's criminal offenses does not mean that they retrieve their excellent reputation – was approved.
Attorney is a person who defends human rights and freedoms, goes between law and clients interests. Not only the law, but also the public matter, provides the requirements of legal profession. According to the legal acts, one of the main requirements of becoming a qualified and trusted attorney is excellent reputation. Nowadays, in the modern society of the 21st century, people are surrounded by social networks and public mass media information, which develops the opinion of general public. All kinds of information are reachable within a matter of time. Because of this reason, the reputation of a lawyer is valued not only by laws and governments, but also by the clients who care about their future. Impeccable reputation is something that cannot be touched or easily deleted, but can make a significant impact on attorney's legal career. On the 1st of May, 2004 Lithuania became a member of the European Union (EU), which lead to ratification of legal acts and legislations as well as acceptance of the main EU's democracy principles. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for one's private and family life. It states that a person has a right to choose his own profession and occupation. After Lithuania became a member of the EU, the political changes also made an impact on the legislature. The requirements of joining the Lithuanian Bar Association were reduced to follow the politics of the Union. Despite the fact that attorney's functions are highly valued in the norms of society, the new members of Lithuanian Bar Association are expected to meet the minimum requirements. The Supreme Court of Lithuania has stated that: "…there are no offences that would be as serious to unconditionally prevent an attorney to apply for a right to resume doing lawyer activity…". For this reason, even a disreputable person who has been convicted of a criminal offence, can become an attorney. The goal of this thesis is to answer the main question: Does the deletion of attorney's previous conviction mean, ipso facto, the recovery of excellent reputation? In order to achieve the goal of the thesis, following tasks are raised: 1. To examine the historical development of the Bar; 2. To define the lawyer's role in society and legislative framework; 3. To describe the concept of an impeccable reputation in the legal and moral contexts; 4. To analyze lawyer's conviction problem and the opportunities of vocational rehabilitation in both public morality and law contexts. The topic has been examined in contexts of both legal and moral norms. Conviction of someone of an important position in the society may cause negative public discussions. It goes without saying, that it is extremely difficult to gain excellent reputation. However, it can be ruined by one simple mistake. It has been concluded, that a formal deletion of lawyer's criminal records does not bring back the status of an exemplary attorney; in relation to not only the laws, but also the overall public moral principles. Despite the fact, that occupation of an attorney is protected by the law, the attorneys themselves are responsible for their actions which might end up in court. For an attorney that has had legal offenses, it is required by the law to complete some sort of rehabilitation. By the time, there is no accurate system in place that would define further steps for the lawyer. Furthermore, the term of rehabilitation is far from being clear; regarding the way it should run, the intensity, the operation period, etc. For that reason, the conditions might be made favorable for the attorneys who tend to carry out criminal acts. Because of the idea that a lawyer is a representative of a client, all the questions concerning his reputation should be critically valued by the society. Nevertheless, at the moment, the future of an attorney that has been convicted depends on a legislator and not on the client, which is the main reason the whole profession exists itself. Therefore, a lawyer with criminal records discredits the image of the Lithuanian Bar Association as well as causing a decrease of people's trust. According to social surveys, in recent years the rate of the trust in the Lithuanian Bar Association is dropping. The main criteria based on which lawyers are being chosen by the clients are: recommendations and the reputation of an attorney. In order to increase people's trust, the legislator should consider taking account of not only the international acts of law. The reputation and rehabilitation should be regulated by the public demands, while taking into consideration the seriousness of the offense. Regarding all these aspects, the hypothesis that a deletion of lawyer's criminal offenses does not mean that they retrieve their excellent reputation – was approved.
Juozas Baltušis: the Outlook and Works of a Soviet Writer Juozas Baltušis (1909–1991) was a Lithuanian writer, politician and public figure. He also worked in the radio and the press. Some of his most popular works are the "Tale of Juza", "Sold Summers" and the memoirs titled "What You Ate the Salt With". J. Baltušis was a writer valued by the Soviet Government and his readers. He was given the honorary title of folk writer and was an active participant in the public Soviet life. The writer had important administrative and political positions. During his meetings with the audience, when giving public speeches and participating in TV shows, J. Baltušis promoted the achievements of the Soviet Union and criticized the rotten West and the trouble-ridden past of the independent Lithuania. His unique social status granted him certain privileges. J. Baltušis was often associated with betrayals of other writers and controversial speeches regarding the endeavors to restore the independence of Lithuania. When the reformation movement started, J. Baltušis found it difficult to adapt to the rapidly changing conditions. Thus, he never joined the Reform Movement of Lithuania and kept to his communism ideals until his death. While some of the writer's ideas were consistent, others changed along with the political situation and the age. The Master Thesis presents an analysis of the many-sided personality of J. Baltušis by going through each of the aspects and revealing the entirety of the writer's ideas, his value system, lifestyle and peculiarities of his creative works. The research revealed the ambivalent nature of J. Baltušis: he presented himself one way when in public and seemed completely different at home when writing his diary. The attitudes of J. Baltušis had radical differences. The research object of the Master Thesis titled "Juozas Baltušis: the Outlook and Works of a Soviet Writer" is the lifestyle and creative endeavors of the writer J. Baltušis as revealed in his diary and public speeches. The research delves deeper into the approaches held by J. Baltušis towards relevant historic and political issues, the Soviet society and the Soviet regime and his value system. The paper also analyzes the relation between the writer and his ideas presented in public during the Soviet Time as defined in the autobiographical documents. The goals of the study are to reveal the approach to lifestyle of J. Baltušis that is evident in his public behavior and personal life, the unique formation of the image of "other me", to review the writer's political views and their relations to public activities, and to discuss the qualities of the creative endeavors of the writer as revealed in his autobiographical documents. Nowadays, the Soviet times are viewed simplistically and attempts are made to group all the writers into clear-cut categories. Meanwhile, attempts to encompass the contradictory entirety of ideas and behavior of people during the Soviet times are far and few between. The personality and personal belongings of J. Baltušis oppose the schematic view towards the Soviet times and help to reveal and get insights into the complex and contradictory nature of the Soviet reality. The topic is relevant due to the novel nature of the research: the paper analyzes all of the preserved diary volumes of J. Baltušis that are stored in the Lithuanian Archive of Literature and Art. The periodic publication titled Years had published only several fragments of the said diary. The analysis is based on the research of autobiographical documents carried out by Rudolf Dekker and Philipp Lejeune and the works of Rimantas Glinskis and Gitana Vanagaitė who adapted the theories formulated by the first researchers of autobiographical documents in the analysis of the diaries and memoirs of Lithuanian authors. The paper is also based on the concept of homo sovieticus and the concept of ketman derived in "The Captive Mind essay" by Cz. Miłosz.
Juozas Baltušis: the Outlook and Works of a Soviet Writer Juozas Baltušis (1909–1991) was a Lithuanian writer, politician and public figure. He also worked in the radio and the press. Some of his most popular works are the "Tale of Juza", "Sold Summers" and the memoirs titled "What You Ate the Salt With". J. Baltušis was a writer valued by the Soviet Government and his readers. He was given the honorary title of folk writer and was an active participant in the public Soviet life. The writer had important administrative and political positions. During his meetings with the audience, when giving public speeches and participating in TV shows, J. Baltušis promoted the achievements of the Soviet Union and criticized the rotten West and the trouble-ridden past of the independent Lithuania. His unique social status granted him certain privileges. J. Baltušis was often associated with betrayals of other writers and controversial speeches regarding the endeavors to restore the independence of Lithuania. When the reformation movement started, J. Baltušis found it difficult to adapt to the rapidly changing conditions. Thus, he never joined the Reform Movement of Lithuania and kept to his communism ideals until his death. While some of the writer's ideas were consistent, others changed along with the political situation and the age. The Master Thesis presents an analysis of the many-sided personality of J. Baltušis by going through each of the aspects and revealing the entirety of the writer's ideas, his value system, lifestyle and peculiarities of his creative works. The research revealed the ambivalent nature of J. Baltušis: he presented himself one way when in public and seemed completely different at home when writing his diary. The attitudes of J. Baltušis had radical differences. The research object of the Master Thesis titled "Juozas Baltušis: the Outlook and Works of a Soviet Writer" is the lifestyle and creative endeavors of the writer J. Baltušis as revealed in his diary and public speeches. The research delves deeper into the approaches held by J. Baltušis towards relevant historic and political issues, the Soviet society and the Soviet regime and his value system. The paper also analyzes the relation between the writer and his ideas presented in public during the Soviet Time as defined in the autobiographical documents. The goals of the study are to reveal the approach to lifestyle of J. Baltušis that is evident in his public behavior and personal life, the unique formation of the image of "other me", to review the writer's political views and their relations to public activities, and to discuss the qualities of the creative endeavors of the writer as revealed in his autobiographical documents. Nowadays, the Soviet times are viewed simplistically and attempts are made to group all the writers into clear-cut categories. Meanwhile, attempts to encompass the contradictory entirety of ideas and behavior of people during the Soviet times are far and few between. The personality and personal belongings of J. Baltušis oppose the schematic view towards the Soviet times and help to reveal and get insights into the complex and contradictory nature of the Soviet reality. The topic is relevant due to the novel nature of the research: the paper analyzes all of the preserved diary volumes of J. Baltušis that are stored in the Lithuanian Archive of Literature and Art. The periodic publication titled Years had published only several fragments of the said diary. The analysis is based on the research of autobiographical documents carried out by Rudolf Dekker and Philipp Lejeune and the works of Rimantas Glinskis and Gitana Vanagaitė who adapted the theories formulated by the first researchers of autobiographical documents in the analysis of the diaries and memoirs of Lithuanian authors. The paper is also based on the concept of homo sovieticus and the concept of ketman derived in "The Captive Mind essay" by Cz. Miłosz.
Juozas Baltušis: the Outlook and Works of a Soviet Writer Juozas Baltušis (1909–1991) was a Lithuanian writer, politician and public figure. He also worked in the radio and the press. Some of his most popular works are the "Tale of Juza", "Sold Summers" and the memoirs titled "What You Ate the Salt With". J. Baltušis was a writer valued by the Soviet Government and his readers. He was given the honorary title of folk writer and was an active participant in the public Soviet life. The writer had important administrative and political positions. During his meetings with the audience, when giving public speeches and participating in TV shows, J. Baltušis promoted the achievements of the Soviet Union and criticized the rotten West and the trouble-ridden past of the independent Lithuania. His unique social status granted him certain privileges. J. Baltušis was often associated with betrayals of other writers and controversial speeches regarding the endeavors to restore the independence of Lithuania. When the reformation movement started, J. Baltušis found it difficult to adapt to the rapidly changing conditions. Thus, he never joined the Reform Movement of Lithuania and kept to his communism ideals until his death. While some of the writer's ideas were consistent, others changed along with the political situation and the age. The Master Thesis presents an analysis of the many-sided personality of J. Baltušis by going through each of the aspects and revealing the entirety of the writer's ideas, his value system, lifestyle and peculiarities of his creative works. The research revealed the ambivalent nature of J. Baltušis: he presented himself one way when in public and seemed completely different at home when writing his diary. The attitudes of J. Baltušis had radical differences. The research object of the Master Thesis titled "Juozas Baltušis: the Outlook and Works of a Soviet Writer" is the lifestyle and creative endeavors of the writer J. Baltušis as revealed in his diary and public speeches. The research delves deeper into the approaches held by J. Baltušis towards relevant historic and political issues, the Soviet society and the Soviet regime and his value system. The paper also analyzes the relation between the writer and his ideas presented in public during the Soviet Time as defined in the autobiographical documents. The goals of the study are to reveal the approach to lifestyle of J. Baltušis that is evident in his public behavior and personal life, the unique formation of the image of "other me", to review the writer's political views and their relations to public activities, and to discuss the qualities of the creative endeavors of the writer as revealed in his autobiographical documents. Nowadays, the Soviet times are viewed simplistically and attempts are made to group all the writers into clear-cut categories. Meanwhile, attempts to encompass the contradictory entirety of ideas and behavior of people during the Soviet times are far and few between. The personality and personal belongings of J. Baltušis oppose the schematic view towards the Soviet times and help to reveal and get insights into the complex and contradictory nature of the Soviet reality. The topic is relevant due to the novel nature of the research: the paper analyzes all of the preserved diary volumes of J. Baltušis that are stored in the Lithuanian Archive of Literature and Art. The periodic publication titled Years had published only several fragments of the said diary. The analysis is based on the research of autobiographical documents carried out by Rudolf Dekker and Philipp Lejeune and the works of Rimantas Glinskis and Gitana Vanagaitė who adapted the theories formulated by the first researchers of autobiographical documents in the analysis of the diaries and memoirs of Lithuanian authors. The paper is also based on the concept of homo sovieticus and the concept of ketman derived in "The Captive Mind essay" by Cz. Miłosz.
Juozas Baltušis: the Outlook and Works of a Soviet Writer Juozas Baltušis (1909–1991) was a Lithuanian writer, politician and public figure. He also worked in the radio and the press. Some of his most popular works are the "Tale of Juza", "Sold Summers" and the memoirs titled "What You Ate the Salt With". J. Baltušis was a writer valued by the Soviet Government and his readers. He was given the honorary title of folk writer and was an active participant in the public Soviet life. The writer had important administrative and political positions. During his meetings with the audience, when giving public speeches and participating in TV shows, J. Baltušis promoted the achievements of the Soviet Union and criticized the rotten West and the trouble-ridden past of the independent Lithuania. His unique social status granted him certain privileges. J. Baltušis was often associated with betrayals of other writers and controversial speeches regarding the endeavors to restore the independence of Lithuania. When the reformation movement started, J. Baltušis found it difficult to adapt to the rapidly changing conditions. Thus, he never joined the Reform Movement of Lithuania and kept to his communism ideals until his death. While some of the writer's ideas were consistent, others changed along with the political situation and the age. The Master Thesis presents an analysis of the many-sided personality of J. Baltušis by going through each of the aspects and revealing the entirety of the writer's ideas, his value system, lifestyle and peculiarities of his creative works. The research revealed the ambivalent nature of J. Baltušis: he presented himself one way when in public and seemed completely different at home when writing his diary. The attitudes of J. Baltušis had radical differences. The research object of the Master Thesis titled "Juozas Baltušis: the Outlook and Works of a Soviet Writer" is the lifestyle and creative endeavors of the writer J. Baltušis as revealed in his diary and public speeches. The research delves deeper into the approaches held by J. Baltušis towards relevant historic and political issues, the Soviet society and the Soviet regime and his value system. The paper also analyzes the relation between the writer and his ideas presented in public during the Soviet Time as defined in the autobiographical documents. The goals of the study are to reveal the approach to lifestyle of J. Baltušis that is evident in his public behavior and personal life, the unique formation of the image of "other me", to review the writer's political views and their relations to public activities, and to discuss the qualities of the creative endeavors of the writer as revealed in his autobiographical documents. Nowadays, the Soviet times are viewed simplistically and attempts are made to group all the writers into clear-cut categories. Meanwhile, attempts to encompass the contradictory entirety of ideas and behavior of people during the Soviet times are far and few between. The personality and personal belongings of J. Baltušis oppose the schematic view towards the Soviet times and help to reveal and get insights into the complex and contradictory nature of the Soviet reality. The topic is relevant due to the novel nature of the research: the paper analyzes all of the preserved diary volumes of J. Baltušis that are stored in the Lithuanian Archive of Literature and Art. The periodic publication titled Years had published only several fragments of the said diary. The analysis is based on the research of autobiographical documents carried out by Rudolf Dekker and Philipp Lejeune and the works of Rimantas Glinskis and Gitana Vanagaitė who adapted the theories formulated by the first researchers of autobiographical documents in the analysis of the diaries and memoirs of Lithuanian authors. The paper is also based on the concept of homo sovieticus and the concept of ketman derived in "The Captive Mind essay" by Cz. Miłosz.
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.
Relevance of the research. Recognition and education of children and teenagers gifted in sporting activity is an important part of the attainment of particular results in sports. Identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports is a process, when athletes are recognised at the early stage of their development and have a possibility to attain high results in adulthood (Williams, Reilly, 2000; Vaeyens, Lenoir, Williams, Philippaerts, 2008). It means that individually or in combination, their physical, physiological, psychological and social features, as well as technical capabilities can help to predict their potential in the future (Williams, Reilly, 2000). Some scientists maintain that aiming to achieve high results in sports gifted athletes should be selected by appropriate methods at an early age and involved into a long and systematically planned training (Sevim, 2007; Bompa, Haff, 2009). However, recognition of young gifted athletes is a complex process, since the results of teenagers' physical development, as well as their value-based provisions, attitudes and motives change in the process of growing and development (Callender, 2010; Gonçalves, Rama, Figueriredo, 2012). According to some scientists (Byrne, Davenport, Mazanov, 2007), adolescence is a specific and rather complicated age period, when rapid and big changes occur not only in physical development, but also in psycho-social maturity. Therefore, recognition and selection of children and teenagers gifted for sports is a multi-faceted process, when it is important not only to evaluate an athlete's present appearance considering their physical, physiological, psychological, cognitive and sociological features, and technical capacities, but also evacuating such important aspects as social, emotional, motivational and temperamental factors (Pruna, Tribaldos, Bahdur, 2018). Whether the talents will be disclosed depends not only on an athlete's innate capabilities, but also on the educational factors affecting them. A great influence is made by the coach and educational environment created by the school, which allows developing and growing an athlete's personality (Williams, Reilly, 2000; Pensgaard, Roberts, 2002). However, it is not the school that affects the educational environment and motivational climate. The attitude of family members towards physical activity, their support for an athlete, the coach and his/her ability to appropriately plan the training content, teammates, facilities, attention from the media and other people, as well as values and social provisions also contribute to this process (Hassandra, Goudas, Chroni, 2003; Lenzen, Brouwers, Dejardin et al., 2004). An effective programme of the identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports can help to recognize talents at an early stage, which can become a vitally important element when trying to enhance successful competitiveness of the country (Vaeyens, Gullich, Warr, Philippaerts, 2009). The programmes of the identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports facilitate the process of athlete selection, which maximizes the number of gifted persons (Anshel, Lidor, 2012). Early recognition of gifted athletes can attract funding and training opportunities for athletes having the greatest potential for success (Durand-Bush, Salmela, 2001). Countries are concerned with creating research-based methods to select the most gifted athletes that could successfully compete on the international sports arena. Over the past two decades, the increasing number of studies have been accomplished trying to understand the issues concerning experience in the identification and education of children and teenagers gifted for sports (Williams, Reilly, 2000; Abbott, Button, Pepping et al., 2005; De Bosscher, De Knop, Van Bottenburg, Shibli, 2006; Pearson, Naughton, Torode, 2006; Lidor, Cote, Hackfort, 2009; Anshel, Lidor, 2012; Roth, 2012; Brouwers, De Bosscher, Sotiriadou, 2012; Nijs, Gallardo-Gallardo, Dries, Sels, 2014; Swann, Moran, Piggott, 2015). However, despite considerable achievements in the process of identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports, a universally recognized model of the identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports does not exist Hohmann, 2001; Abbott, Collins, 2004; Vaeyens, Lenoir, Williams, Philippaerts, 2008; Davids, Araujo, Vilar, Pinder, 2013; Louzada, Maiorano, Ara, 2016). There are cases when decisions concerning the selection of athletes are made subjectively, without scientific validation (Regnier, Salmela, Russell, 1993; Williams, Franks, 1998; Abbott, Button, Pepping, Collins, 2005), whereas a lot of potentially gifted athletes are not selected due to inappropriate selection criteria or applying no selection criteria at all, as well as due to athletes changing a sports branch or a large number of drop-outs from sports (Abbott, Collins, 2004; MacNamara, Collins, 2011; Tranckle, Cushion, 2006; Winfried, 2001). It is important that children and teenagers get interested in sports, are selected to appropriate sport branches, as well as attempts are made so that they do not break their sporting career too early (Schiffer, 2013); every year approximately 35% of young athletes quit sports and it is not clear if they ever resume their sporting activity again (Purcell, 2005; Breunner, 2012). Therefore, the application of these selection criteria and a large drop-out of athletes from sports can be partly justified in countries with high population. The principle of natural selection can have a greater influence. In the case of a small country (for instance, Lithuania), such a selection is not suitable. Trying to avoid subjectivity, the majority of the latest scientific studies in sports science are related to the investigation of the influence of innate (natural) and acquired (educated) features on sporting results (Baker, Bagats, Büsch, Schorer, 2012; Coutinho, Mesquita, Fonseca, De Martin-Silva, 2014; Davids, Baker, 2007). With the increasing competition among athletes over the past period (De Bosscher et al., 2006) and sports becoming a political and commercial phenomenon (Green, Oakley, 2001), there appears a necessity for timely and appropriate choice of a specific branch of sports, which would help to achieve good results in the future. Different methods and programmes of selecting the most capable athletes are applied all over the world. In the majority of countries, selection models consisting of several stages are applied, which rely on a coach's competence, test results and analysis of competition results, whereas the selected athletes are invited to learn and do sports in specialised schools. Similarly to some other countries, in Lithuania concern about (self-) education of children gifted for sports has led to the emergence of sports gymnasiums. Panevėžys Raimundas Sargūnas Sports Gymnasium is one of the three general education schools of Lithuania that implement basic and general education alongside with sports education, and in which a part of sports education in the field of specialized education aims at training students that have special educational needs due to their giftedness in sports for high excellence and results (Order No. V-1010 of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania, 24 October 2014). The programme outlines the knowledge, abilities and attitudes that athletes should acquire to comply with physical, technical, tactical requirements, as well as requirements for fitness and achievements. The purpose of Panevėžys Raimundas Sargūnas Sports Gymnasium gives a possibility to analyse the gymnasium as a case revealing the aspects of the selection of teenagers gifted for sports, which can help to better understand what educational preconditions are created and how to select teenagers gifted for sports and to disclose their talents, as well as to help create and improve practical models for schools educating teenagers gifted for sports. Therefore, the research question was formulated: how does the selection of teenagers gifted for sports occur and how are the educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports created? The problem-based question and the fact that a universal and effective model of the selection of children and teenagers gifted for sports does not exist, highlight the research object, i. e. the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. The aim of the research is to reveal the educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. The research objectives: 1. To theoretically validate the educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. 2. To identify the educational factors and notice of the choice of sporting activity by athletes. 3. To explore the physical and functional fitness of athletes and its dynamics. 4. To determine the attitudes of athletes as educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. 5. To determine the attitudes of coaches as educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the doctoral research ● The validated educational factors that influence the selection of teenagers gifted for sports allow better understanding of the factors of choosing a sporting activity and survival in sports as educational preconditions for the development of capabilities. ● The determined dynamics of physical and functional fitness of teenage athletes in an educational environment beneficial to the development of their innate capabilities for sports helps to understand the dynamics and multi-dimensionality of the selection of teenagers gifted for sports as a process, as well as problematic control of its components when identifying and developing their capabilities. The case of one of the three sports gymnasiums of Lithuania has been explored in terms of the selection of teenagers gifted for sports – such studies have not been performed in Lithuania so far. ● The results of the theoretical and empirical research complement the theory of sports science with innovative and original data on the expression of the educational preconditions affecting the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. Practical significance. The educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports that affect athletes' decision to choose a sporting activity from other spheres of supplementary education have been analysed and generalised. The determined peculiarities of motivation will help coaches to select appropriate pedagogical and psychological tools to motivate athletes to seek for high results in sports. The educational factors stimulating and aggravating athletes' selection and motivation to seek for high results in sports have been distinguished during the research, the role of a coach as one of educational factors has been revealed in the process of selecting and training athletes – these findings will allow a more purposeful planning of the (self-) development of coaches' competences and provision of all the necessary support concerning the selection of athletes to them. The analysis of the changes in the results of athletes' physical and functional fitness will give a possibility to make a more thorough selection of teenagers gifted for sports to 12 sports branches, as well as to train them more purposefully and effectively for national and international competitions. The research data can be applied in compiling model characteristics of different age periods and different sports branches by specifying training programmes and evaluating the changes in athletes' individual fitness. The research results can be used by the administration, coaches and other employees of athletes' educational centres, federations and sports schools. CONCLUSIONS 1. The search and selection of gifted children is a complex, dynamic, long-lasting, and special educational process that depends on a variety of factors interacting and constantly changing in the process. The factors influencing the selection and results in the sporting activity can be divided into four groups: genetic-physiological, psychological, social, and educational factors. The genetic potential, anthropometric data and physical abilities are essential indicators for the identification and selection of teenagers gifted for sports. Psychological features, such as perseverance, self-confidence, positive attitude, devotion, dedication, strong intrinsic motivation, concentration, attentiveness, and emotional control, are important in selecting gifted teenagers. Social factors include sports policy, culture, natural conditions, geographical location of the country, various opportunities, specific tendencies in the development of modern sports, and support rendered to the participants of the educational process. Educational factors – educational environments, parent support, practice, the coach and teammates, have an educational impact on athletes and can influence their decision making, motivation, habits, training and skills.Therefore, the selection of gifted teenagers should be specific to each sports branch and include a multi-disciplinary approach when clearing out athletes' motives, the attitudes of athletes and coaches, as well as implementing the monitoring athletes. 2. Regardless of gender and a group of sports branches, the main factors that motivate the choice of sports activities include educational (motivation of the coach, parents and friends) and internal cognitive motives (desire to master a sports technique). The least important motives involve material (possession of own inventory, good facilities for training), geographical (a sports school close to home), not being admitted into another sports branch, or lack of other choices. The choice of a sport from other areas of supplementary education is determined by a desire to be physically fit and a desire to engage in leisure activities. The least important motives are the desire to become famous and the desire to be attractive. Intrinsic motivation is more pronounced than extrinsic.The boys' external motivation is stronger than that of girls. Amotivation is more characteristic of the girls. The internal and external motivation is more expressed by the athletes of team sports; external motivation in individual sports appears to be the weakest, whereas the weakest intrinsic motivation and the strongest amotivation is revealed in duelling sports. 3. The results of physical development, physical fitness and functional capacity of stronger athletes are not always statistically significantly different from those of other athletes or control group athletes. A part of the indicators of stronger athletes are better, which leads to an assumption that alongside with psychosocial abilities, social factors, educational factors, and high motivation, they are essential to achieve high results. The correlation study reveals which indicators need to be taken into account and developed when selecting teenagers gifted for sports and achieving high results. 4. The most important factors for teenagers' decision to start doing sports and choose a sports branch include the surrounding environment, where the most important roles are ascribed to the coach, family members and friends. The genetic-physiological and psychological factors that are affected by the coaching and environmental factors are considered as the main factors determining success in sports. The coach is identified as the most important educational factor in the selection of gifted teenagers, whereas a favourable climate, motivating influence of the coach, his/her competence and ideal conditions help to disclose the athletes' talents and achieve high results. While choosing a sport and training, the self-educational factor is distinguished seeking to change oneself, as well as to change own or others' future relating it to sports. The factors that reduce the motivation of athletes and thus prevent the full potential of talented athletes, as well as leading them to end their sporting careers are highlighted: stabilisation of their progress in the results, injuries and high loads of physical activity. 5. The coaches distinguish the importance of psychological and physiological factors in selecting teenagers gifted for sports. The coaches consider the teenagers to be prospective athletes who have a strong internal and external motivation to train, innate capabilities, and physical abilities that are influenced by environmental factors, coaching competence, and practice. The role of the coach as the most important educational factor is highlighted in the search for gifted athletes among those already in the sport or referring to the competence of other coaches, recommending athletes who can achieve higher results in other sports branches. Identifying gifted teenagers-athletes, the coaches look for dedicated, hardworking and goal-seeking athletes with strong motivation. Family members and peers are recognised as educational factors that have a significant impact on athlete selection. The research also highlights the problems faced by coaches in the selection process. These are physiological and psychological changes in the body and the priorities of teenage athletes, which are influenced by their surrounding environment.
