Ratko Đokić

This report is based on a study on gender–based cyber violence against women and girls in Croatia, Portugal and Spain, commissioned by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality of the Republic of Croatia. The study is the final and summary report of the project “Raising awareness about gender-based cyber violence and advocating for a safer online environment for women and girls (bE-SAFE)” financed by the European Union within the call of the “Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV)” programme. Spanish youth report the highest victimisation rates on most items, followed by Portugal, with Croatia generally being the lowest. The exception is threats of physical violence, where Croatia's youth report substantially higher rates than either Portugal or Spain. Across all three countries, body appearance insults consistently rank first or joint first. This finding implies the centrality of bodily self-presentation as the primary target of online aggression regardless of the national context. One finding is consistent across all three countries: females are more targeted by unwanted sexual messages, and males are more targeted by threats of physical violence. This female-sexual/male-physical split represents the most robust cross-national gender pattern in the data. Beyond this, national specificities emerge: Croatia uniquely shows a higher male victimisation on appearance-based insults, while Spain shows pronounced gender divergences overall. LGBTIQ youth are consistently the most victimised group across all three countries. The pattern is universal but its shape varies. Croatia and Portugal show the strongest LGBTIQ overrepresentation for reputational aggression (lies about sexual behaviour), while Spain concentrates LGBTIQ vulnerability in coercive sexual behaviours. Regarding the children who are victims of GBCV in Croatia: being younger is associated with a higher victimisation, which means that children lack protective resources available to older youth. Croatian children may inhabit less supervised online spaces. As digital engagement intensifies through adolescence, victimisation likely accumulates. However, in Portugal and Spain children are more frequently exposed to a wider range of forms of violent cyber behaviours than the children in Croatia. Croatia shows the largest gender gaps among children, with girls being victims more often, followed by Portugal, and with Spain showing the most modest differences. Spanish youth report the highest perpetration rates on all comparable items, followed by Portugal and then Croatia. This higher perpetration in Spain is consistent with the higher victimisation rates observed there, which may point to a context where cyber violence is both more commonly experienced and more commonly enacted. The three countries present three distinct developmental models for the gendering of perpetration. In Croatia, self-reported perpetration is gender-neutral among children and becomes male-dominated among youth. In Portugal, moderate male predominance among children partially attenuates among youth. In Spain, strong male predominance is present from childhood and persists into youth. These divergent trajectories may imply that the relationship between gender and cyber violence perpetration is culturally mediated. It is interesting to note that Croatia and Portugal follow a "childhood peak" where both victimisation and perpetration are considerably higher among children and decline with age. In Spain, however, the prevalence of GBCV in terms of experience and perpetration is similar in both age groups. Across all three countries and both age groups, generally, females are disproportionately targeted by sexually intrusive behaviours and males by physical threats. LGBTIQ youth are the most victimised group in every country. Across all three countries, risky online behaviour emerged as the strongest and most consistent predictor of GBCV involvement, whether as a witness, victim, or perpetrator. Higher media literacy was associated with lower levels of both victimisation and perpetration in Croatia and Portugal, though this protective effect was less consistent in Spain. Both victims and perpetrators reported poorer mental health, greater loneliness, and negative academic outcomes, though the data do not allow us to establish the direction of causality. Girls and women reported higher levels of distress following victimisation than boys and men, while men were more likely to resort to passive coping strategies. Interestingly, "doing nothing" was among the most common reactions to victimisation across all three countries, and substantial proportions of those affected told no one about their experiences. Perpetrators were predominantly known to victims (friends, partners, and acquaintances), rather than anonymous strangers.

The study analyses differences in the quality of neighbourhood equipment between socialist (old) and post-socialist (new) large housing estates in Croatia and Slovenia. A total of 2,193 participants from the four largest cities in Croatia (Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, and Osijek) and the two largest cities in Slovenia (Ljubljana and Maribor) were surveyed in 2022. Satisfaction with neighbourhood equipment was evaluated based on the following aspects of the housing estate: accessibility of primary and secondary services and facilities as well as overall satisfaction with the estate. Residents, regardless of the country, Croatia or Slovenia, and the type of estate, were generally satisfied with all key aspects of the housing estates. The results also indicated a generally higher urbanistic standard in both types of estates in Slovenia compared to those in Croatia. Furthermore, indicators of satisfaction with neighbourhood equipment generally demonstrated weak correlations with residents’ individual characteristics – gender, age, tenure, and length of residence in the estate. In accordance with the initial assumption, socialist estates were not rated worse overall compared to post-socialist housing estates.

The inadequate legislation on multi-family housing management in Central and Eastern European post-socialist countries calls for the exploration of additional determinants of building renovation on the level of the community of residents in a building. To this end, we present here an analytical framework called the mediated-Renovation Decision (m-RD) model for simultaneously testing the direct and indirect effects that neighbourly relations, cooperation of the co-owners' representative with the co-owners, and acceptance of the building co-ownership concept have on co-owners' willingness to invest in building renovation. The model is based on assessments made by 325 co-owners' representatives from multi-family buildings in Croatia. The results show that the quality of neighbourly relations affects the co-owner's willingness to renovate not directly, but indirectly through the level of their acceptance of the building co-ownership concept. The other indirect effect of neighbourly relationsthrough the level of the representative's cooperation with co-ownerswas not significant. The demonstrated analytical value of the m-RD model advocates for more complex studies of the role of neighbourly relations in collective decision-making and actions in the housing domain.

The paper deals with maintenance and management problems in multi-family buildings in Zagreb and other Croatian cities from the perspective of co-owners’ representatives. After 1990, when there was intensive privatization of housing, the responsibility for the maintenance of the housing stock shifted to private owners and management companies. Apartment owners have been given the obligation to maintain multi-family buildings and have faced problems and challenges in maintaining and managing common property. The empirical research was conducted on a convenience sample of co-owners' representatives (N = 353) using the survey method. The results are analysed according to three construction periods of multi-family buildings: built before 1945, during the socialist period (from 1945 to 1990) and the post-socialist period (after 1991). The results show that in all three construction periods there are certain bigger or smaller shortcomings regarding the building quality, and then the maintenance. The paper concludes that insufficient financial and organisational resources, insufficient engagement of managers, inadequate collaboration between representatives and managers, and weak energy renovation of multi-family buildings are some of the most important problems faced by co-owners’ representatives.

Institut za društvena istraživanja u Zagrebu u suradnji s Urbanističnim inštitutom Republike Slovenije iz Ljubljane provodi bilateralni znanstveno-istraživački projekt pod nazivom Kvaliteta života u stambenim naseljima iz socijalističkog i postsocijalističkog razdoblja: komparativna analiza između Slovenije i Hrvatske (2020.-2023.) (Quality of living in the Housing Estates of the socialist and post-socialist era: a comparative analysis between Slovenia and Croatia – HESC1 ) (http://hesc.uirs.si/hr-hr/Naslovna). Projekt financiraju Hrvatska zaklada za znanost (HRZZ) i Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije (ARRS). Projektom se istražuje stanovanje kao jedno od temeljnih i najkompleksnijih ljudskih dobara i prava. Stanovanje se također definira i kao jedan od osnovnih elemenata kvalitete života. U ovom istraživačkom projektu stanovanje se analizira na dvije osnovne razine: kroz objektivne indikatore njegove upotrebne vrijednosti na razini stana, zgrade i naselja te kroz subjektivne indikatore koji mjere promjene društvenih vrijednosti kod stanovnika u njihovom razumijevanju, percepciji i potrebama vezanima za kvalitetu života. Pri tome je istraživački interes bio usredotočen na starija stambena naselja izgrađena nakon Drugog svjetskog rata u razdoblju socijalističkoga sustava (1945.-1990.) i na novija naselja izgrađena u razdoblju tranzicije ili prijelaza na sustav tržišne ekonomije, odnosno postsocijalističkom razdoblju (nakon 1990. godine).

U prvoj istraživačkoj fazi bilateralnog projekta sa Slovenijom pod nazivom Kvaliteta života u stambenim naseljima iz socijalističkog i postsocijalističkog razdoblja: komparativna analiza između Slovenije i Hrvatske (2020.-2023.) provedeno je anketno istraživanje s predstavnicima suvlasnika višestambenih zgrada u Hrvatskoj. Predstavnici suvlasnika igraju značajnu posredničku ulogu između stanara kao vlasnika stanova i upraviteljskih tvrtki u procesu upravljanja, održavanja i poboljšanja kvalitete zgrada u kojima stanuju. Stoga je namjera ovog istraživanja bila analizirati I istražiti ovu ciljanu populaciju jer sustavna istraživanja o njihovom i kontekstu u kojem se proces upravljanja i održavanja višestambenih zgrada obavlja u Republici Hrvatskoj gotovo ne postoje. Provedeno istraživanje doprinos je stručnoj i znanstvenoj analizi ovog procesa, ali i ukupne stambene problematike u Hrvatskoj. Cilj je ankete bio prikupiti (inicijalne) informacije i uvide o problematici kvalitete gradnje, kvalitete života te održavanja i upravljanja zgradama kao I mogućnostima provedbe energetske obnove višestambenih zgrada kod nas. Empirijsko istraživanje provedeno je na prigodnom uzorku predstavnika suvlasnika (N = 353) metodom ankete. Dobiveni rezultati prezentirani su prema tri starosne kategorije višestambenih zgrada: izgrađene prije 1945. godine, u socijalističkom razdoblju (od 1945. do 1990. godine) i postsocijalističkom razdoblju (nakon 1990. godine). Stambeni fond izgrađen između 1945. i 1990. procijenjen je zadovoljavajućim u stambenom smislu. Zadovoljstvo predstavnika suvlasnika zgradama najniže je u kategoriji zgrada izgrađenima prije 1945. godine. Rad zaključuje kako su nedostatna financijska sredstva, nerazumijevanje značenja suvlasništva nad zajedničkim dijelovima, nedovoljna angažiranost upravitelja i nejasan zakonodavni okvir, neki od najvažnijih problema s kojima se susreću suvlasnici i predstavnici suvlasnika u svom radu.

Studies have shown that affective states could be used as diagnostic information for the assessment of situational demands and that, as such, they can regulate resource mobilization. Accordingly, it was found that negative feelings cause overestimation of situational demands, which then leads to effort mobilization during performance on easy tasks but disengagement on difficult tasks. The present research investigated whether this emotion–motivation link could explain the usual differences in achievement on easy and difficult tasks under stereotype threat ( ST ). In Study 1, participants in ST , no‐ ST , and no‐ ST with fear induction conditions had to resolve a series of easy logical problems. As expected, ST and no‐ ST ‐fear groups reported higher effort investment and achieved better performance than the no‐ ST group. In the following two studies, the no‐ ST ‐fear condition was replaced by an ST condition in which the informative potential of threat‐related feelings was prevented before the task performance. Although participants under ST reported similar elevation in anxiety, the expected increase in easy task performance (Study 2) and decrease in difficult task performance (Study 3) were observed only in the standard ST groups. Taken together, our findings suggest that threat‐related feelings could govern motivational processes and account for the effect of ST .

Animations are widely used in today’s science classrooms. Therefore it is very important to explore under which conditions animations are most effective. In earlier studies it has been generally shown that the effectiveness of instruction largely depends on management of cognitive load. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of Physlet animations, printed sequences of selected animation frames and traditionally presented static pictures on understanding about lenses and levels of cognitive load. According to the results of a quasi-experiment that included forty nine high-school students, Physlet-based teaching generally leads to higher germane load and consequently to more effective learning than the traditional approach. Particularly high levels of germane load have been found for Physlet-based problems . These findings can be accounted for by the interactivity feature of Physlets.

The study examined the psychometric characteristics of three automated working memory span tasks: operational, reading, and symmetry span task, administered in groups of participants. For each task, the metric characteristics of six scoring procedures were evaluated: partial, absolute, partial non-weighted, absolute non-weighted, partial weighted, and absolute weighted scoring. Metric characteristics of all measures were compared across two parallel analyses: with and without application of a typical 85% accuracy criterion on the processing component of the tasks. The study demonstrates that the group administration of span tasks does not compromise their psychometric characteristics. All the tasks had an adequate internal consistency with Cronbach’s αs equal to or above .70; the exception being all types of the symmetry span task absolute scores with α values close to .60. Furthermore, all tasks have satisfactory convergent construct validity as well as criterion validity estimated in relation to measures of fluid intelligence. Omitting the 85% accuracy criterion on the processing component of the span tasks did not impair their psychometric properties. Thus, it is recommended that researchers discard this accuracy criterion as a criterion for filtering the results for further statistical analyses.