Youth Study Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014)

Attitudes of Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina towards: Free time and lifestyle. Belief and affiliation issues. Family and friends. Concerns and aspirations, mobility. Education and profession. Democracy and politics. Governance and development. Internal and foreign policy: Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU.

Topics: 1. Free time and lifestyle: frequency of selected leisure time activities; hours watched TV on a usual day; internet access; hours per day for internet usage overall; main purposes 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 the other entity, from China, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, from the US or from a Balkan country, from across the Arabian Peninsula and of other ethnic group); experience of discrimination due to selected reasons; three most important values; general view on life (claims); 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 and superiors 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 with parents; 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 and in general (e.g. with other young people in the neighborhood).

4. Concerns and aspirations, mobility: wish to move to another town in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 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.

5. Education and profession: current education level (primary school, secondary school, college, MA, PhD); self-rated motivation towards school; assessment of a typical day at school / at college; average grade during the last academic year; existence of a phenomenon of ´purchasing/buying´ school grades and exams; personal experiences with the purchase of school grades or exams at the own school / at college; number of hours per day for studies; kind of private lessons during the last academic year; choice of higher education according to inclination or due to secure earnings and more chances; satisfied with the quality of education in Bosnia and Herzegovina; preference for a public or a private educational institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a public or a private educational institution abroad; preference for a vocational secondary school or a college; participation in an internship, volunteering or additional qualification; find a job immediately after completing BA / MA / PhD; part-time 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 Bosnia and Herzegovina (acquaintances / friends, professional abilities, education level, political connections, luck or other factor); ranking of important factors to accept a certain job (income, job security, opportunity to work with likable people, 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 and with friends; personal interest in political affairs (world politics, politics on the Balkans, in Bosnia and Herzegovina and EU politics); similarity of own political beliefs with those of the parents; liberal-conservative self-placement; 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 Bosnia and Herzegovina; personal engagement in socio-political activities; opinion in relation to democracy as a form of government.

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 Bosnia and Herzegovina in the next 10 years.

8. Internal and foreign policy: agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s accession to the European Union; benefits and disadvantages associated with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU accession; trust in EU institutions; self-rated degree of knowledge about the EU and about the EU programmes for youth.

Demography: gender; age; highest educational level of respondent and his parents; economic status: number of rooms and of computers, laptops, tablet devices, smartphones, cars and books in possession; rented or own apartment / house; own room; internet connection; monthly expenses of household; employment status; monthly income; ethnic group or nation.

Additionally coded was: Respondent-ID; region; size and type of locality; entity; family situation.