Young People In Serbia Research Articles

Leave or Stay in Homeland

A short article by Marko and Andrijana Bilić about common doubts of young people in Serbia.
 Serbia is a small country with the highest rates of youth emigration in the Western Balkans. Since we are young people ourselves, we are aware of the question that is constantly imposed on young people - Leave or stay in the homeland? This confusion led us to compile a list of reasons in favor of leaving and staying in the country. If you are someone who is troubled by the same questions, maybe our perspective will help you make a decision.

Determinante namere vakcinisanja protiv humanog papiloma virusa kod učenika

Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the virus that is most often associated with cancers. Cervical cancer is one of the leading public health problems, especially in developing countries. In the Republic of Serbia, cervical cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the female population amongst all malignant diseases, and HPV infection is the most important risk factor for the occurrence of this disease. This study aims to identify the determinants of adolescent HPV vaccination intention. Materials and methods: The study was conducted as a cross-sectional study including a total of 748 students, aged 12 -19 years, from one high school and two elementary schools in Šabac. The research instrument was a questionnaire, particularly constructed for this study. Multiple regression analysis was applied to examine the predictive model for explaining the HPV vaccination intention in young people. Results: The proposed model explains 66% of HPV vaccination intention in young people. The strongest predictor of HPV vaccination intention in young people relates to the subjective norm, i.e., social pressure from peers and other people who are important to them. Distrust of the benefit of vaccination, concern about commercial profiteering, and belief in a "vaccine conspiracy" have a significantly smaller but statistically significant contribution in explaining HPV vaccination intention amongst our youth. Conclusion: Increasing social pressure to get vaccinated, as well as changing certain attitudes and beliefs about vaccines in general, may lead to an increase in the intention of young people to get vaccinated against HPV. Understanding the key aspects of the attitudes of young people in Serbia towards HPV vaccination opens the possibility of creating evidence-based public health policies and planning targeted health-educational interventions directed at the identified findings.

Pismo generacije Z upućeno generalnim direktorima

The research focuses on the needs and demands of Generation Z that enters the labor market with different expectations and attitudes than previous generations. We present an analysis based on a conducted online survey among 519 GEN Z members and compare it with similar surveys conducted globally. Members of Generation Z in Serbia want to independently create their work environment and ensure the financial security, often through the establishment of their own company, while at the same time striving for stable earnings and job security. Like global peers, GEN Z in Serbia is concerned about ensuring financial security. It's a priority when they're looking for a job they'd leave if they can't progress. Globally and in Serbia, this generation placed great emphasis on mental health and ranked it as a high priority in defining a desirable working environment. However, members of this generation in Serbia differ from their global peers in terms of the importance of the sustainable aspect of the future employer. Although there are those who believe that this challenge, as well as other global challenges, should be solved by companies, this group of young people in Serbia still believes that the state should have the key responsibility in solving the problems they consider important. The results of the research clearly show that digital native, Generation Z in Serbia has clear expectations and demands from future employers while putting mental health, financial stability, and the opportunity for advancement as a priority when applying for and maintaining a certain job.

Znanje, stavovi i ponašanje studenata Visoke zdravstvene škole u Beogradu o značaju HPV infekcije, HPV vakcine i drugih preventivnih mera

Introduction/Aim: Knowledge and awareness of the importance of the HPV vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) can greatly contribute to the reduction of cervical cancer and other malignant tumors. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of students about HPV infection, as well as to propose measures for the better coverage of young people with the HPV vaccine. Methods: A cross-sectional study included 449 students of healthcare of the Medical College of Applied Sciences in Belgrade in the period from March to May, 2019. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Chi-square test and Fisher's exact tests were used for the statistical analysis of data. Results: The average age of students was 21.02 ± 2.59 years. 86.0% of students assessed their knowledge about the HPV vaccine as satisfactory. Teachers had the greatest influence on their knowledge about the HPV vaccine (79.7%), followed by the electronic media (10.7%). Medical platforms for information about the HPV vaccine were used by only 9% of students. Students acquired the first information and a certain degree of knowledge about HPV infection and the HPV vaccine in high school (80.4% and 65.6%). Only 3.4% of students think that young people in Serbia are sufficiently informed about HPV infection and 0.4% about the HPV vaccine. Every second student believes that peer education in schools is one of the ways to better inform young people. About 94% of students know that there is an organized screening for cervical cancer in our country. Only 10.2% of students wanted to vaccinate their child with the HPV vaccine, and those who would not do so cite the insufficient information about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine as their main argument (81.6%). Respondents who were for the HPV vaccine significantly less frequently underwent regular gynecological examinations. Conclusion: Students of the Medical College of Applied Sciences in Belgrade believe that there should be better education about HPV infection and the vaccine, which could be best realized by conducting peer education.

The next generation: Nationalism and violence in the narratives of Serbian students on the break‐up of Yugoslavia

AbstractTwenty years after the end of the violent break‐up of Yugoslavia, new generations of young people in Serbia are living with its legacies. Despite the socio‐psychological implications of violent conflict in post‐conflict societies being well established in the literature, there are still only a few studies which focus on young Serbians’ meaning‐making in relation to the recent wars. The present study focuses on how a group of young Serbians, born after the violence was over, understands the violent break‐up of Yugoslavia. The article presents the analysis of interviews and group discussions with 31 first‐year university students in Serbia about these events. The goal of the analysis is to determine a) whether participants’ narratives contain identifiable themes of a collective memory of conflict and b) whether participants normalize past violence through narrative. The relationship between the two as well as the relationship between history textbooks and participants’ narratives will be discussed. Finally, the findings are discussed in regard to how participants’ understandings of past violence might shape their political positioning in relation to nationalism.

Alati na društvenim mrežama kao sredstvo savremenog političkog angažmana - stavovi studenata u Srbiji

In this paper, the authors present the research results about the attitudes of the student population in Serbia regarding the use of social media tools as instruments of political engagement. The text presents a segment of a broader study of political communication of young people in Serbia, conducted within the benefit concept. The research results show that social media tools do not contribute to the political engagement of young people in online sphere. The authors interpret the results in the context of political communication and power, indicating the absence of efforts by young people in Serbia to acquire political subjectivity and persuasive action in the environment.

Analysis of the relationship between higher education and youth employment in Serbia

Young people in Serbia are considered a vulnerable group in the labor market. The extended period of searching for adequate employment, as well as the harmonization of the competencies of young people with the requirements of employers present a special challenge. Young people with a university degree need less time to find a job, although unfavorable economic trends have a relatively worse effect on graduates. The aim of this paper is to determine the role of higher education in the context of employment of graduates. Based on the analysis of the content of the relevant national strategic documents related to work, employment and higher education, it was concluded that the differences between academic and vocational higher education are growing in the context of educational outcomes and expected quality standards. In this regard, academic higher education institutions need to develop additional services to help graduates of academic studies begin their careers.

How (Un)Aware are Young People in Serbia and the Diaspora of Serbia’s Intangible Cultural Heritage?

This paper is the result of work on the project “A Study of Awareness and Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage Among Young People in Serbia and the Diaspora” carried out in 2019. In view of the UNESCO recommendations that young people should be educated about the importance of cultural heritage as they are the key population in the process of its further preservation, the project was conceived with the aim of conducting a survey on the awareness of young people in Serbia and the diaspora of elements of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) protected in the National Register of ICH of the Republic of Serbia. A target group for the study was selected using the technique of nonprobability sampling, composed of a convenience sample of young people who are members of cultural societies in Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Užice, Kraljevo and Niš, and also of third-generation Serbian immigrants in Vienna, Paris and Calgary who are members of Serbian cultural societies in these cities. Taking into account the fact that in cultural societies certain elements of ICH are practiced and learned, the hypothesis was that the target group would serve as a good indicator of the degree of awareness of protected elements of ICH on the national list, as most protected elements constitute rare customs. Related to this is the fundamental analytical question, namely, who does the ICH National List serve and who should be aware of the protected rare elements of intangible cultural heritage, to what degree and why. The research instrument used was a questionnaire with open-ended questions, and the data thus collected were consequently supplemented through interviews. Ten elements were selected from the ICH National List. 66 completed questionnaires were collected, 33 from Serbia and 33 from the diaspora. An analysis of the replies suggests that the degree of awareness among young people of ICH is relatively low.

Attitudes of Children and Youth on the Serbian Business Sector

Abstract Apart from the increasing attention paid to the role of business in society, with an expanded awareness of the link between the business sector and human rights, over the last decade, there has been a trend of trying to understand the relative impact of businesses on children’s rights. After the promotion of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles in 2012, the impact of the business sector began to be viewed through the diversity of its possible effects on children in the workplace, the marketplace, in the community or in relation to environmental protection. A quantitative survey of children and young people in Serbia conducted via UNICEF’s U-Report platform aiming to test the hypothesis“Are children and youth in Serbia aware of the impact that the business sector has on them?” identified their attitudes that companies can help them in their future development paths, that the greatest area of impact on children’s rights comes from the workplace – by providing decent work for young workers and parents and making future jobs more accessible to young people through education and training programmes.At the same time, the expectation of children and youth in Serbia for greater participation of companies in supporting and realising the rights of children in society was emphasised.

Environmental worldviews of Serbian and Macedonian school students

AbstractThe objectives of this study were to assess the dimensionality of the revised New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale in Serbian and Macedonian culture, and to use it to explore the environmental worldviews of young people in Serbia and the Republic of North Macedonia. A total of 850 pupils aged between 13 and 15 from 11 schools (5 elementary schools and 6 secondary schools) took part in this research. The dataset obtained from the scale was analysed via the principal component analysis factor extraction method, and a varimax rotation was applied. This study found all items load on four dimensions: Balance of Nature, Humans over Nature, Limits to Growth and Environmental Philosophy. Differences between subgroups occur in three out of four dimensions. The students’ environmental worldviews were determined by providing the frequency distribution of their responses. Both subgroups in the Republic of North Macedonia and Serbia are (slightly) environmentally conscious, with an ecological view of the environment. Macedonian school students have a slightly higher NEP score than their peers in Serbia, indicating more environmentally protective attitudes among them. The participants did not see the two paradigms as mutually exclusive, as do members of some industrialised societies. The rejection of the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) by the NEP is a phenomenon that could well only be present in Western societies, whereas in less industrialised societies, the NEP and DSP could coexist in a comprehensive environmental view. With minor alterations such as word substitutions to facilitate easy comprehension of items by the respondents, the revised NEP scale will show more universal applicability outside developed communities.

Faktori rizičnih oblika ponašanja mladih u Srbiji - analiza individualnih i kontekstualnih činilaca rizika

In this paper we deal with the research of the relation between risk behaviour forms among young people in Serbia and the assumed risk factors. This paper is aimed at using the criminology theory in order to test the effect of environmental factors on more broadly understood risk behaviour of young people. The conceptual framework of the study is founded on the general criminology theory of R. Agnew, while the hypothesis directing our research is: Features of the social environment as well as individual and family characteristics constitute the strain factors pushing a young person into risk behaviour. For the data of the representative study on young people (N=1186) aged between 15 and 29, conducted in 2015, we applied the statistical technique of multilevel modelling which ensures the establishment of relations with risk behaviour forms at individual and contextual levels. The findings of the multilevel analysis indicate that individual and contextual factors are equally important in the understanding of risk behaviour forms. In other words, gender and age, as well as social disorganization and culture of violence constitute a fertile soil for risk occurrence.

Emigracioni potencijal mladih u Srbiji

Emigracioni potencijal mladih u Srbiji

Youth and forecasting of sustainable development pillars: An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system approach.

Sustainable development goals are used as a guidance for strategies development on local, regional and national levels. The importance of including young people in this complex process is recognized in all relevant documents (i.e. Agenda 21), however it is not an easy task to elicit opinions and preferences from the youth. Furthermore, the assessment of the sustainable development goals itself presents a challenge for the noisy data and nonlinear relationships in data. Popular approach is fuzzy set models where expert knowledge is presented with comprehensible rules; however expert knowledge elicitation takes a long time too. Several studies proposed an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system approach that combines the fuzzy set theory to model expert knowledge with neural networks for inferring rules and membership functions from data to assess the sustainable development performance. We base our assumptions that ANFIS can be used to predict the importance of sustainable development pillars from the demographic data of young people. For this purpose, we have conducted an online survey on sustainable development goals opinions and importance of young people in Serbia. The sample of 386 respondents has been split into a training sample of 300 instances (to generate membership functions and fuzzy rules) and a testing sample of 86 instances to predict the importance of the three pillars. We have conducted a trace-driven simulation test to validate the results of the proposed ANFIS model. Results of the study provided insights into how the young people in Serbia assess the importance of sustainable development goals. Secondly, the results suggest that ANFIS can be applied to predict values of importance of the three sustainable development pillars with the relative error of Rel Err < 5%. It must be noted that the considered model could be further improved by using training samples with more data.

Neurotični poremećaj kod mladih u postmodernom društvu - sociološki i psihološki aspekti

The paper will discuss the impacts of socio-economic and psychological factors on the neurotic disorder in young population: the way it is manifested in the current socio-cultural context in Serbia. This phenomenon will be presented through a reinterpretation of classical, as well as sociological and psychological theories, based on the idea of social constructivism, seen through the prism of the transformation processes of Serbian society. The aim of the paper is to present the elements and mechanisms by which the postmodern society constructs a social reality, which also changes the meaning and nature of the manifestation of neurosis among young people. In methodological terms, in addition on the aforementioned theoretical concepts, the analysis also relies on Moreno's role theory, psychodrama and sociodrama. In this paper, we will present the basic psychodrama and sociodrama methods and techniques as well as the advantages of their practical application in the treatment of neurotic disorders in young population. Neurotic disorders in youth will be interpreted through various types of social and psychological transitions: 1. transition into adulthood; 2. transition from mental illness to health; 3. socio-economic transition and its consequences for young people in Serbia. In the first part of the paper, the focus is on interpreting the relationship between the postmodern self, the adolescent crisis, and the neurotic disorder. The second part represents the ways in which psychodrama and sociodrama can be practically applied in the treatment of young people with neurotic symptomatology. In the conclusion, we emphasized the advantages of using psychodrama and sociodrama for the purpose of prevention and treatment of the neurotic disorders in young population which is a responsibility not only of the individual and his/ her family, but of the society as a whole.

СТАВОВИ МЛАДИХ У СРБИЈИ ПРЕМА ПРОСТИТУЦИЈИ, РОДНОЈ РАВНОПРАВНОСТИ И ФЕМИНИЗМУ У 2016. ГОДИНИ

The objective of this research was to examine social and demographic predictors for the attitudes of young people in Serbia toward prostitution, gender equality and feminism, as well as to analyse the relations of these three attitudes between each other, and in relation to basic variable of sexual behaviour (age of first intercourse and number of sexual partners). The sample for this research was 1114 participants (67.6% female with average age of 22.4 years, SD =2.59). Three scales were applied in data collection process such as the scale of attitudes about prostitution, the scale of attitudes about gender equality (Džamonja-Ignjatović, Žegarac, Popović, &amp; Duhaček, 2009) and the scale of attitudes about feminism (Džamonja-Ignjatović еt al., 2009). The results show that boys have more positive attitude about prostitution although the difference in regard to attitudes of girls was far more expressed in smaller than in big cities. Contrary to this, the data relative to the attitudes toward gender equality and feminism point that girls have expressed more positive attitude than boys. Additionally, our results show positive association of attitudes on gender equality and prostitution. The rights and social protection of women in prostitution in Serbia are a marginalised social issue and social reactions of tolerance and indifference are predominant. In this regard further research of attitudes of systematic solutions, possibilities and challenges in prostitution could provide significant contribution to this subject.

The Impact of Education on the Youth Labour Market in Serbia

The high rate of youth unemployment is an issue that is largely present in developing countries, such as Serbia. The results of the research will provide a major contribution whether education has an impact on the labour market among young people in Serbia. Decision tree was performed to identify impact constructs. In order to define public policies, an insight is provided into the characteristics of young people that largely contribute to the probability of being employed. The results showed that education has an impact on youth unemployment. Results of the research will be useful for decision makers in the implementation of a strategic model of the labour market. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the paper.

Self Assessment of the Social Influence of Young People and Their Attitudes Towards Change

This paper examines the attitudes of young people in Serbia, according to the possibilities for their own social activism and participation in social change in which Serbia is already deeply involved, i.e. it examines social and personal values of young people and their correlation to their readiness to adopt to change. Young people are chosen precisely because they will be custom holders of these changes, i.e. their driving force. Serbian youth is burdened with many problems: unsatisfied with their own financial situation, they struggle to include themselves in the labor market, they are extending their education and rely financially on their parents. Our research has shown that young people do not believe enough in the strength of their own influence in society, and that they were visibly disappointed in institutions of society as a whole. Hypothesis One (H1) of this research – that there is a statistically significant correlation between attitudes towards change and social and personal values of young people in Serbia – has been confirmed, while Hypothesis Two (H2) of this research – that there is a statistically significant difference in the attitudes of young people towards social values, our society, and changes within it, depending on socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents – has been partially confirmed.&#x0D; &#x0D; Article received: December 30, 2017; Article accepted: January 10, 2018; Published online: April 15, 2018; Original scholarly paper&#x0D; &#x0D; How to cite this article: Radošević, Tanja, Goran Bulatović, Ljiljana Bulatović. "Self Assessment of the Social Influence of Young People and Their Attitudes Towards Change." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 15 (2018): 185–200. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i15.241

Which factors shape the intention of secondary school students in Serbia to pursue entrepreneurship?

In spite of numerous initiatives for promoting entrepreneurship in Serbia and the endeavours to encourage young people through education to think as entrepreneurs and start their own business, there are almost no papers in our psychological and educational literature that deal with this topic. Starting from Eisen?s theory of entrepreneurial behaviour as planned and intentional, we conducted a research with the aim of determining the factors which influence the intention of young people in Serbia to choose entrepreneurship as a career option. The focus in the research was on the following factors: personal initiative, entrepreneurial experience (close persons as entrepreneurial role models) and entrepreneurship education. Additionally, the role of gender, school achievement and parental education was analysed, as well as the role of perceiving the socioeconomic context in which young people live. The sample was convenient and comprised 222 fourth-grade students from two schools of economics and three grammar schools in Serbia. Robitschek?s scale (PGISS-II) was used for measuring personal initiative, while other instruments were constructed for the purposes of the research. The used statistical procedures included descriptive statistics, Chi-square, t-test, Pearson?s coefficient of linear correlation, as well as standard multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that the personal growth initiative, entrepreneurial experience (especially parents who are entrepreneurs) and the perception of the context in which young people live are the most important factors for forming an entrepreneurial intention in secondary school students in Serbia. The obtained findings are discussed, first and foremost, in the context of implications for entrepreneurship education in which the desirable educational strategies refer to encouraging student initiative and engaging successful entrepreneurs in teaching as mentors.

Residential satisfaction among young people in post-socialist countries: the case of Serbia

Change in labor markets, extended education period and economic instability are negatively influencing housing accessibility of young adults. In post-socialist countries, such as Serbia, the biggest issues are the lack of supply volume and diversity of government subsidized housing, as well as the soaring prices of the newly built homes. As a result, young people are relying on the unregulated private rental market or their families to help them enter homeownership and acquire residential independence. There is an apparent need for affordable housing or policies which are catering to young people’s needs. The relevant body of research has been using residential satisfaction approach to provide an evaluation of the variety of housing available to young tenants. Hence, the primary purpose of this paper is to identify the factors which are significantly related or can predict the higher residential satisfaction and can be beneficial to the future policy makers in Serbia. To assess the residential satisfaction, following variables were included: socioeconomic characteristics, residential status, current housing characteristics, problems faced in the current dwelling, housing attribute preferences, privacy perception, dwelling proximity, neighborhood attachment, as well as overall residential satisfaction. The findings indicate that young people in Serbia had average levels of satisfaction with their housing despite the various problems and lack of privacy they were facing in the apartments. Higher residential satisfaction in this research was significantly predicted by the marital status of our respondents (single people were more satisfied), homeownership tenancy status, independent living arrangement, larger apartment size, greater levels of privacy and higher neighborhood attachment.

Informal employment of young people in Serbia: Current situation and trends

The number of informally employed has been increasing under the influence of globalization, capital mobility, restructuring and labor market deregulation. Informal economy is present in all societies and at all social levels. The implications of youth work in the informal sector are multiple. Namely, human and financial resources are wasted and productivity decreases. The young do not have social protection, security, or labor rights protection. The paper focuses on the representation of young people in the informal economy in Serbia, examining trends and factors that influence their formation. Work engagement of young people in the informal economy can negatively affect their future perception of the society in which they live, earn a living and educate themselves.