Naslov
Social Integration and Life Evaluation of Youth In Post-Yugoslav Societies

Autori
Šimac, Bruno ; Gvozdanović, Anja

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
International Conference. Sociological Perspectives on Contemporary Post-Yugoslav Societies. / Tomanović, Smiljka - Beograd : Sociological Scientific Society of Serbia, 2023, 29-29

Skup
International Conference: Sociological Perspectives on Contemporary Post-Yugoslav Societies

Mjesto i datum
Beograd, Srbija, 26.05.2023. - 27.05.2023

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
social integration, life evaluation, youth, post-Yugoslav societies

Sažetak
Contemporary social sciences have shifted their focus towards understanding what contributes to living a fully satisfied life among youth, putting significant emphasis on the measurement of key predictors of young people’s subjective well- being. This paper examines the relationship between the social integration of youth and their life evaluation in 7 post-Yugoslav countries. Our operationalization of social integration is a derivative of the multidimensional construct introduced by Dragolov et al (2012) that is composed of three domains: 1. social relations ; 2. connectedness, and 3. focus on the common good. Furthermore, this research relates social integration to life evaluation that includes young people’s satisfaction with their life in general, family life, circle of friends, and education. We explore the main assumption that strong social integration leads to higher levels of life evaluation among youth. This paper is based on data from the “Youth in Southeast Europe 2018” project commissioned by the Friedrich-Ebert- Stiftung (FES) and analyzes comparative data on young people aged 18–29 coming from 7 post- Yugoslav countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia). Only one social integration construct is a significant predictor of life evaluation across all 7 countries and that is trust in people. However, significant predictors of life evaluation among youth in most countries are also the frequency of social contact and identification. Therefore, post-Yugoslav youth with a higher trust in other people, those with more frequent social contact with their friends, and those with stronger national and local identity perceive higher life evaluation. Nevertheless, it needs to be stated that there are some country differences and our social integration constructs do not have the same strength of predictability in all included countries. Our analysis shows that those young people with stronger social integration in their local communities evaluate their lives more positively.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA