Sve je više istraživanja u društvenim znanostima koja se bave temama povezanima s lezbijkama, gejevima, biseksualnim, transrodnim, interspolnim i queer (LGBTIQ) osobama u Hrvatskoj. Osim toga, u ...uzorku svakog istraživanja mogu biti i LGBTIQ osobe. Unatoč tomu, najčešće se pretpostavlja da su sve osobe u uzorku heteroseksualne i cisrodne, pa je u upitnicima koji mjere sociodemografske varijable često ograničen broj kategorija u kojima se LGBTIQ osobe mogu prepoznati. Posljedica takvog pristupa mjerenju nedovoljno je poznavanje ostvarenog uzorka, što može utjecati kako na tumačenje rezultata, tako i na odustajanje LGBTIQ osoba od sudjelovanja u istraživanju ili odgovaranja na pojedina pitanja. Takav pristup predstavlja i kršenje etičkog načela znanstvenog istraživanja o postupanju bez diskriminacije ili povlašćivanja na osnovi spola, rodnog identiteta i izražavanja ili seksualne orijentacije. Ovaj rad donosi preporuke za istraživanja u smjeru prepoznavanja LGBTIQ osoba, odnosno uključivanja različitih spolnih/rodnih identiteta i seksualnih orijentacija kao mogućnosti odgovora pri konstrukciji upitnika. Preporuke se temelje na pregledu različitih pristupa mjerenju spola, roda i seksualne orijentacije u hrvatskim i međunarodnim istraživanjima, teorijskim pretpostavkama te iskustvu autorica u stručnom radu s LGBTIQ osobama. Mogući korak prema prepoznavanju LGBTIQ identiteta jest uvođenje pitanja o seksualnoj orijentaciji i rodnom identitetu u istraživanja u kojima bi te varijable mogle biti relevantne za istraživanu temu. Također, s obzirom na to da se varijabla spola redovito koristi, uz uobičajene odgovore “muški” i “ženski”, koji nisu primjenjivi na dio populacije, predlaže se ostavljanje prostora za samoidentifikaciju ili opciju “nešto drugo”. Uz konkretne prijedloge čestica, rad donosi obrazloženja ključnih pojmova važnih za istraživanja koja uključuju LGBTIQ osobe.
Parenting desires, intentions, and the underlying motivation for parenthood are well documented in the context of heterosexual couple parenthood, while among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, ...intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people research is limited. The main goal of this study was to explore parenting desire and different reasons to become a parent or remain childfree among LGBTIQ people in Croatia. 486 childless LGBTIQ people participated in an on-line survey. In the quantitative part of the study, parenting desire and reasons for and against parenthood were measured, while the qualitative part analysed the answers to open-ended questions about additional reasons that influence the desire to want or not to want children. The results showed that 46% of the participants want to become parents, 35% did not know, and 19% reported they do not want to have children. The main reasons for parenthood among the participants who want children were internal – the desire to give love, share knowledge, and develop a special bond with a child. The participants who do not want to have children also stressed internal reasons against parenthood, such as restricted personal freedom, high responsibility, and the amount of workload they perceive as a part of parenthood. Several additional reasons for and against parenthood emerged from the qualitative data. Some reasons reflected universal issues unrelated to sexual orientation or gender identity, while others conveyed concerns related to social and legal barriers that LGBTIQ people face when it comes to parenthood.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people can become parents using various methods, but actual possibilities differ between countries depending on the legislation and ...social norms. The main goal of this study was to explore parenting desire and family formation methods among LGBTIQ people in Croatia. Differences in parenting desire based on sociodemographic characteristics, the frequency and use of family formation methods, as well as the importance of different sources of support for parenthood were analysed. 486 childless LGBTIQ people (aged 18 to 54) and 24 LGBTIQ people who were parents (aged 24 to 54) participated in an online survey. Childless participants who did not want children were on average older in comparison to those who wanted to have children. There were no significant differences in desire for parenthood based on education, income and relationship status, as well as between cis-females and cis-males and lesbians and gays. Most of the participants who were already parents had a child in a previous heterosexual relationship, while most of those who tried to become parents used an assisted reproductive technology. Among all the participants, the most preferred family formation methods were adoption and foster care, and partners were considered as the most important source of support for parenthood. Childless participants who wanted to have children perceived significantly more support from family, friends, and a significant other in comparison to those who did not want children. These results provide novel insights into the decision-making processes LGBTIQ people go through before family formation and indicate associations between the life context (e.g. age, social support) and parenting desire.
Despite the decline in prejudice towards LGBT people, the issue of parenthood is still controversial with negative attitudes towards LGBT parents being openly expressed. This study aimed to examine ...attitudes towards parenting by same-sex couples using a vignette design. Parenting condition (parent’s negative vs positive reaction), active parent’s gender (mother vs father) and family composition (different-sex vs same-sex couple) were varied to test differences in the evaluations of parenting, child behaviour, family environment, social distance and willingness to grant rights. 392 heterosexual and cisgender students from the University of Zagreb (87% female, 13% male), aged 18 to 37, participated in an online study. After reading one of the eight vignettes, participants evaluated parenting, child behaviour, family environment, social distance and rights of the family described in the vignette. The results showed that parenting and family environment were evaluated as better, and participants were less convinced that the child’s behaviour is the result of parents’ relationship in the positive parenting condition than in the negative. Social distance was lower towards parents in the positive parenting condition than in the negative and – unexpectedly – towards same-sex in comparison to different-sex couples. Participants were more inclined to grant family rights to parents from the positive than to those from the negative parenting condition. Although other results suggested unbiased attitudes towards same-sex couples’ parenting, participants were less inclined to grant same-sex couples family rights in comparison to different-sex couples. The findings reflect an important mechanism underlying the stability of prejudice – a resistance towards generalising attitudes from individual cases to a group. This can be used in efforts to confront prejudice against parenting among LGBT people
Children’s developmental outcomes are the result of their unique characteristics and different environments they develop in, as well as their interaction. An important part of this interaction is ...marked by social meaning, attitudes and beliefs about the importance of ethnicity, especially in a multiethnic environment. Previous studies were dominantly focused on family functioning and parenting processes in western families, majority groups and middle socioeconomic status. Minority families face specific challenges due to their different history, cultural heritage and status in society, thus generalization of the existing results to these families is limited. Also, there is a lack of research on family processes that include transmission of messages about group membership, especially in the European area. In this paper we review research about ethnic socialization, i.e. parenting in the direction of conveying information, values, beliefs and attitudes related to ethnicity. First, we present the theoretical framework of ethnic socialization and its relationship with parents’ and children’s characteristics and experiences as well as children’s developmental outcomes. Second, we consider limitations of the existing research. Finally, we discuss the importance of the ethnic socialization research in Croatian multiethnic communities along with an overview of the research on ethnic socialization in the ethnically divided city of Vukovar.
Reducing motorized transport has a number of positive effects on the environment and the quality of human life. Studies that provide better understanding of factors relevant to the choice of ...transport modes can help in creating campaigns to encourage use of environmentally friendly transport. The main goal of this study was to test the usefulness of the Theory of planned behavior (TPB), with the addition of personal norm, in predicting the intention of commuting by bicycle to university among students in Zagreb, Croatia. The data were obtained from 712 students at the University of Zagreb using an on-line survey. The results show that students mostly used public transport to go to university and that cycling is the second most common choice. The frequency of bicycle use differed due to the distance between the university and participant's home. Bicycle use first increased with the distance and then dropped at the category from 2 to 5km when it started to decrease and was the least frequent at distances longer than 10 km. All TPB components were significant predictors and explained 55% of the variance in intention of commuting by bicycle. Adding personal norm to the components of TPB made a small but significant contribution in explaining variance of the intention (additional 2%) at the same time personal norm was the weakest predictor. Practical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.
There has been an increasing interest in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) issues in social science research in Croatia. Additionally, LGBTIQ people can be sampled in ...almost any research. However, it is usually assumed that all study participants are heterosexual and cisgender. In consequence, a limited number of categories for LGBTIQ individuals are typically included in questionnaires. Such an approach results in biased sample characteristics, which can both affect the interpretation of results and provoke LGBTIQ participants to refrain from providing answers to certain questions or refuse further participation. In addition, it represents a violation of the scientific research ethical principle of avoiding discrimination or privilege based on sex, gender identity, and expression or sexual orientation. In this paper, recommendations are offered for research that acknowledges LGBTIQ people by including different response options for sexual orientation, sex, and gender identity. These recommendations are based on an overview of different theoretical explanations and approaches in the measurement of gender, sex and sexual orientation in Croatian and international research, as well as on the authors’ experience in professional work with LGBTIQ people. As a possible step towards recognising LGBTIQ identities, introducing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity into research is recommended where those variables could be relevant for the studied subject. Also, since sex is a frequent research variable and commonly used response options “male” and “female” do not apply to a part of the population, adding a response option for self-identification or “something else” is recommended. In addition to item construction examples, explanations of the key concepts important for research including LGBTIQ people are provided.
Repairing broken intergroup relations after conflict is a challenging process that becomes particularly complex when perpetrators and victims continue to live in the same community. In the present ...study, we have asked participants from different sides of the 1991-1995 conflict in Croatia to disentangle their understanding of apology and forgiveness 20 years after the war. We conducted focus groups with people who suffered war-related personal losses, those with no such losses, and young adults born after the conflict. The major research question was as follows: How do different community actors understand intergroup apology and forgiveness and its relevance for the peaceful future in the postconflict ethnically mixed communities? A total of 65 persons participated in 11 focus groups (36 Serbs and 29 Croats; 35 women and 30 men; aged 20-78 years) who had lived in two ethnically mixed towns (Knin and Vukovar) before and during the war. Our results showed no substantial differences in how people with different experiences or from different sides of conflict understood intergroup apology and forgiveness. However, the meaningfulness of apology-forgiveness cycles was impaired by mistrust in the sincerity of apologies and by strong differences in opinions about preconditions for intergroup apology and forgiveness between two ethnic groups. Our results show that an outright apology and forgiveness may not be necessary for the communities that suffered mutual massive violence. Rather, exchange of mutual social gestures showing readiness for contact and moving on with everyday living could be more constructive ways for community social reconstruction.
Public Significance Statement
In this study, we elaborate on how people from different sides of conflict, with different experiences and from different generations understand the concepts of intergroup apology and forgiveness after the conflict and their relevance for future community intergroup relations. The results confirmed the complexity of phenomena and emotional, cognitive, and motivational challenges operating in considering common future and social recovery among community members.
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