Table 1 Familial variables

Family affluence scale

A set of 6 questions on the material conditions of the households in which children live. The questions cover car ownership, bedroom and bathroom occupancy, holidays, home computers and dishwashing machine [68].

Low (Ref.)

Medium

High

Family structure

In the list of adult people, the respondents were asked to indicate the persons living in their family.

Intact family (Ref.)

Not intact family

Communication with parents^a

The respondents were asked how easy it is for them to talk to the their father and mother (separately) about things that really bother them [69].

Easy (Ref.)

Difficult

Quality of communica-tion within the family

A shortened version of the clear communication scale (4 items) from Family Dynamics Measure II [70, 71].

0.87

Good (Ref.)

Poor ^#

Satisfaction with family relationships

The variable was measured by means of an item based on Cantril’s [72] ladder, ranged from 0 to 10.

High (7–10 scores) (Ref.)

Low (0–6 scores)

Parental monitoring^a

The measure was based on the scale developed by Brown et al. [73], which asks young respondents about how much their father and mother know about five issues of their life.

0.90 (for the father)

0.79 (for the mother)

High (Ref.)

Low^#

Emotional support^a

The measure was 4-items subscale of the instrument build by Parker et al. [74], which is used to assess the quality of parental bonding.

0.84 (for the father)

0.78 (for the mother)

High (Ref.)

Low^#

School-related parental support

The respondents were asked to show how they agree or disagree with the 5 statements on perception of parental emotional support and controlling in various aspects of school [75]. :

0.85

High (Ref.)

Low^#

Parenting style^a

The measure refers to the strategy developed by Maccoby and Martin used to assess the four well-known parental disciplinary styles [58].

Authoritative-reciprocal (Ref.)

Permissive-indulgent

Authoritarian-repressive

Permissive-neglectful

Family time together

The evaluation of joint family activity was based on 8 items: (1) watching TV or a video, (2) playing indoor games, (3) eating meals, (4) going for a walk, (5) going places, (6) visiting friends or relatives, (7) playing sports, (8) sitting and talking about things [76].

0.85

Often (Ref.)

Rare^#

Electronic media communication with parents

The respondents were asked to answer how often, in average, they communicate with parents in these ways: (1) speaking by phone; (2) sending SMS messages; (3) writing e-letters; and (4) conversing in real time (e.g. by Skype).

0.61

Often (Ref.)

Rare^#

Seeing the parents^a

The respondents were asked how often they are able to see (meet) their parents because of their job.

See father/mother every day (Ref.)

See father/mother not every day