Youth in a Time of Crisis (Croatia 2012)

Attitudes of Croatian Youth towards: Free time and lifestyle. Belief and affiliation issues. Family and friends. Concerns and aspirations. Education and profession. Democracy and politics. Governance and development. Internal and foreign policy: Croatia and the EU integration

Topics: 1. Free time and lifestyle: frequency of selected leisure time activities; hours watched TV on a usual day; frequency of watching selected TV programs; internet access; hours per day for internet usage overall; main reasons for internet activities; amount of money per month for selected activities; personal values (e.g. independence, career, engagement in politics, own appearance, etc.); smoker status; frequency of alcohol consumption; rating of alcohol consumption as acceptable, as necessary to be accepted by others or as unacceptable; satisfaction with own appearance; sexual relations; usage of protective means in sexual life; opinion on sexual abstinence; acceptance of homosexuals and lesbians; opinion on abortion.

2. Belief and affiliation issues: level of trust in family members, relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues, people with a different religion or with different political beliefs and religious leaders; attitude towards different hypothetical neighborliness (Roma family, homosexual family, group of students, retired couple, family from Bosnia and Herzegovina, from China, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, from the US or from a Balkan country); experience of discrimination due to selected reasons; three virtues the respondent values the most; personal engagement in voluntary activities and kind of these voluntary activities; main reason for personal engagement in voluntary activities; denomination; belief in God (existence of God and of heaven and hell, God created the world, God is the source of moral prescriptions and duties); frequency of religious activities (go to church to mass, pray, go to confession, celebrate religious holidays, go on a pilgrimage); accepted relationships with people of different nationalities (e.g. permanently in the country, in the neighborhood, colleagues at work, socialize with them, top positions in political life, In-laws or family).

3. Family and friends: respondent lives alone or with close family members, with partner or with friends / relatives; preference to live alone or with parents; relationship to parents and siblings; family member with the most influence on decision the respondent takes on important issues; decision on important issues together with parents or alone or parents decide for everything; expected personal family situation (e.g. married and with a family); main advantage of marriage compared to unmarried relationship; main advantage of unmarried relationship compared to marriage; adequate age for marriage for women and men; desired number of children; importance of factors in choosing own husband / wife; part of a group of friends; satisfaction with own social network; situations of violent conflicts in the past year (e.g. with other young people in the neighborhood).

4. Concerns and aspirations: wish to move to another town in Croatia; main reason to move; strong desire to immigrate abroad; most desired country to immigrate; main reason to immigrate abroad; expected personal situation in ten years; importance of different professional goals in life.

5. Education and profession: current education level (secondary school, undergraduate studies, graduate/ doctoral studies); self-rated motivation towards school; assessment of a typical day at school / university; average grade during the last academic year; existence of a phenomenon of ´purchasing/buying´ school grades and exams; number of hours per day for studies; private lessons during the last academic year; main reason for attending private courses; choice of higher education according to inclination or due to secure earnings and more chances; satisfied with the quality of education in Croatia; preference for a public or a private educational institution in Croatia, a public or a private educational institution abroad; preference for a vocational secondary school or a university or applied sciences university; participation in a practicum, additional qualification or internship; find a job immediately after finishing the university; part or full time employment; working hours per week; working in profession obtained; preferred sector of employment; ranking of important factors to find a job in Croatia (acquaintances / friends, professional abilities, education level, political connections, luck or other factor); ranking of important factors to accept a certain job (income, employment certainty, possibility to work with people you like, job satisfaction); activities financed by the parents for the purpose of increasing education success or employability.

6. Democracy and politics: frequency of political discussions with parents; personal interest in political affairs (world politics, politics on the Balkans, in Croatia and EU politics); similarity of own political beliefs with those of the parents; party preference; frequency of participation in elections; influence of the own vote on the way institutions on central and local level are managed; main sources of political information; left-right self-placement; feeling of being represented in politics; trust in selected institutions; satisfaction with democracy in Croatia; importance of different political goals.

7. Governance and development: degree of anxiety provoked by selected problems (e.g. increasing poverty, unemployment, environment pollution, etc.); expected economic situation of people in Croatia in the next 10 years.

8. Internal and foreign policy: agreement with Croatia’s accession to the European Union; benefits and disadvantages associated with Croatia’s EU integration; rating of different circumstances that make Croatia’s accession to the EU more difficult; trust in EU institutions.

Demography: gender; age; year of birth; household size; number of family members aged 14-27 years; sex, age and year of birth of all family members; highest educational level of respondent and his parents; economic status: number of rooms and of computers, laptops, cars and books in possession; rented or own apartment / house; own room; internet connection; monthly expenses of household; employment status; monthly income.

Additionally coded was: ID; county; region; time of the beginning and of the end of the interview; age group; type of locality; weighting factor.