청소년의 공감능력과 가족건강성이 행복감에 미치는 영향

The Effect of Emphatic Ability and Family Strengths on Happiness in Adolescents

본 연구는 청소년의 가족건강성, 공감능력과 행복감의 일반적인 경향을 알아보고, 가족건강성, 공감능력이 행복감에 미치는 영향력을 살펴봄으로써 이를 통해 청소년의 행복감을 증진하는데 도움을 주는 방향을 모색하고자 한다. 첫째, 청소년이 인식하는 공감능력은 ‘개인적 고통’을 제외한 ‘관점 취하기’, ‘동일시’, ‘공감적 관심’에서 중간 값 보다 높게 나타났으며 성별에 따른 공감능력의 차이를 살펴보면, 여학생이 남학생에 비해 전반적으로 공감능력이 높았다. 청소년이 인식하는 가족건강성은 하위영역 모두에서 중간 값보다 높게 나타났고, 성별에 따른 가족건강성의 차이를 살펴보면 ‘의사소통 및 유대’를 여학생이 남학생 보다 높게 인식하는 것으로 나타났다. 청소년이 인식하는 행복감은 중간 값보다 높게 나타났으며, 성별에 따른 차이는 나타나지 않았다. 둘째, 청소년의 행복감에 공감능력 중 동일시, 공감적 관심, 개인적 고통이 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났고, 가족건강성의 하위변인 중 가족존중 및 애정, 역할공유 및 문제해결력, 재정적 안정이 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났으며, 이들 변인들은 행복감을 39% 설명해 주고 있다. 따라서, 청소년의 행복감을 증진시키기 위해서는 건강한 가족관계 형성을 위한 가족관계 강화 프로그램을 활성화하고 공감능력 향상 프로그램을 개발하여 학교나 가정에서 지속적인 교육이 이루어져야 할 것이다.

The purpose of this study was to explore ways to help improve adolescents’ happiness by exploring the influences of emphatic ability and family strengths on happiness. This subjects were 514 middle school students living in Gwangju. Data were collected from self-report questionnaires and analyzed with SPSS 22.0 program. The major findings were as follows; First, the adolescents’ emphatic ability(‘viewpoint’, ‘identity’, ‘emphatic interest’), family strengths(‘family respect and affection’, ‘role sharing and problem solving’, ‘communication and bonds’, ‘financial stability’) and happiness scores were higher than the median(3.00). Emphatic ability(‘viewpoint’, ‘identity’, ‘emphatic interest’, ‘personal suffering’) and family strengths(‘communication and bonds’) showed significant difference according to gender. Second, the adolescents’ happiness was influenced by ‘family respect and affection’, ‘role sharing and problem solving’, ‘financial stability’, ‘personal suffering’, ‘identity’, and ‘emphatic interest’. Adolescents’ happiness was explained about 39% by these variables. In other words, the higher family respect and affection, both higher role sharing and problem solving and higher financial stability, with lower personal suffering and higher identity and higher emphatic interest showed the higher happiness. These findings demonstrate the emphatic ability and family strengths in adolescents influence on the level of happiness. As such, in order to improve the happiness of adolescents, it is necessary to energize those programs focus on the forming healthy family relationships and to design finance assistance programs that could attempt to minimise financial gap. Additionally, it is necessary to develop programs aimed to enhance emphatic ability and continue such programs in homes as well as at schools. Finally, it is necessary to implement curriculum that may improve family strengths and emphatic ability, which have influenced on the happiness in adolescents. Since the subject “Technology & Home Economics” helps to enhance family strengths, emphatic ability and eventually amplifies the happiness, it is necessary to expand and reinforce it as well as to make it a mandatory subject.