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In contemporary societies employed parents are often faced with difficulties while trying to balance their work and family obligations. Previous research showed that this negatively influences the quality of family life and results in family stress. Additionally, it causes lower level of job satisfaction and work effectiveness. Recognizing these issues, some work organizations implemented family-friendly policies in order to support employees and to help enhance their family-work balance. For the same reason they created family-supportive work environment that is often characterized by flexible working arrangements. The aim of this research is to examine employed parents' perception of the level of family-supportive work environment (which provides flexible work arrangements and opportunities for work adjustments to family obligations) according to personal and family features and job characteristics. Furthermore, the aim is to determine whether there is a correlation between the perceived level of family-supportive work environment and work-family conflict. 187 employed parents participated in this study. All of them have at least one child under 18. The survey was conducted in six Croatian towns and surrounding municipalities. The following measuring instruments have been used: General Data Questionnaire, modified scale Boundary Flexibility [1], modified Work-Family and Family-Work Conflict Scales [2], Descriptive Statistics, the ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation were used for the data analysis. The results have shown that there are significant differences in the perception of a family-supportive work environment in relation to family financial status, working time, and the position in the workplace. It has been confirmed that employees with the lowest family financial status, employees doing shift work, and lower-ranking employees have a significantly lower possibility for work adjustments to family obligations. They rated family-supportive work environment at a significantly lower level compared to higher-ranking employees working in single shift positions who rated financial situation in the family as extremely favorable. The results also showed a significant negative correlation between parents' perception of the family-supportive work environment and work-family conflict In conclusion, this research highlights the benefits of implementing family-friendly policies in the work environment and the importance of expanding various programs of family-friendly policies for all categories of employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk behaviours in youth are often the result of personal identity issues and internal conflicts, connected with the need for new and more complex excitement, and a new image about themselves. Such behaviours often precede delinquent behaviour or occur with delinquent behaviour. It also could be related to impulsive decision-making, negligent behaviour, conflict with peers or authority, and having a significant negative impact on the wider society. The aim of this paper is to gain insight the experiences of young people with risk behaviour involved in an individual psychosocial treatment at the youth counselling centre. The purpose of the study was to find out the circumstances (behaviours and acts) of youth involvement into treatment, as well as to learn about the treatment effectiveness and the satisfaction with the treatment from youth perspective. In this qualitative study the purposeful sampling was used. Twelve young people with risk behaviour involved in individual psychosocial treatment were participating (age 18 to 22). Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data were processed by qualitative content analysis. The results have shown that youth with risk behaviours are included in an individual psychosocial treatment mostly because of the criminal offenses: misuse of drug substances, criminal acts against life and body and property delicts. The individual psychosocial treatment was beneficial for youth because they experienced contentious and open conversation with the therapist, developed ability for self-control, and improved their relationships. It also helped them in overcoming the school's responsibilities, in submitting job application procedure, and in planning life for the future. Participants stated that was beneficial for them that they could express their personal thoughts, discuss about thematic of their personal significance, gaining insights into their own mistakes supported by specialized and confidential therapist. This study indicated the significant role of the individual psychosocial treatment in resocialization process of youth with risk behaviour offering a new life perspective for their safer future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]