In Slovakia in 1980, 5,6% of all live-born infants were born out of wedlock, and their proportion today is 37,8%, but we have no precise information on how many of them were born to single mothers, or how many to those unmarried but cohabiting with a partner. This study presents the results of a qualitative research made 30 years ago in five districts of Southern Slovakia. In the research we used three methods: document analysis, semi-structured interviews with 49 single mothers and further respondents, and field research. We were examining the issue of who became a single mother at that time and why. What kind of partnership preceded the birth of their baby? What was the public attitude towards them? The results of the research performed back in 1980 forecasted the present-day tendencies of the transformation of partnerships. continue reading →
Zsuzsanna Lampl The Situation of Hungarian Families with Disabled Children in Slovakia based on a Survey In our questionnaire survey conducted in 2015, we received answers from 143 families with one disabled child, in most cases. As many as 37% of the respondents knew exactly what kind of social benefits they were eligible for. 53% of them were only partially informed, 10% not at all. One-third of the respondents had not been informed by the social welfare department, more than one-third had not received information neither from the doctors nor from the media, and 41% mentioned that the NGOs for the disabled had not provided information for them at all. It seems that the best source of information is a parent suffering the same fate. In respect of care and assistance, parents can first of all rely on each other, the maternal grandparents, or their own healthy child. According to them, the following four problems are the most pressing ones to be resolved or provided: 1. increased financial support, 2. greater social tolerance, 3. better expertise of the competent officials, 4. better possibilities for leisure activities (sufficient clubs and places where the young people with disabilities could come... continue reading →
The study presents the findings of a 2011 research related to the public and family use of language of Hungarians in Slovakia, as well as how the type of marriage and the language of instruction in basic school influences the use of language in domestic and public settings. At the end of the study, the author compares the current state of some scenes of public language use with findings from 2007. continue reading →
The relocated interviewees from Bratislava to Upper Rye Island and to Rajka and its vicinity are typical representatives of desurbanization; in the sense that they traded their urban home for better living conditions and a calmer, less stimulating environment. In their new home, almost all have made their dreams come true: they have their own home, in most cases their own house, which they consider their home in the emotional sense of the word. At the same time, it is also typical that their workplace is located in the capital, where they commute daily or at least several times per week. What is less typical, however, is the fact that many of them report the property close to their work as their permanent address, their actual home being listed as their temporary living place. In other regions in Slovakia the reverse is mostly true. If we were to stick to the strict definition of migrants, which labels persons who permanently settle in a different location, then we could not consider part of the interviewees as migrants, only commuters. It is a fact that thanks to the migrant entrepreneurs there could be more money flowing to the settlements accounts, yet... continue reading →
The main topic of the study is the political identity of Hungarians living in Slovakia. In the first part the author shortly summarises what kind of identity types characterised the 90s, than in the second part of the study he analyses the state of political identity in 2001 and the changes comparing with the 90s. The author also analyses the characteristics of political identity types. In the third part, on the basis of the newest research, he introduces what factors influence interest towards politics and who are those who consciously refuse politics. continue reading →
The history of humankind can be understood as the process of gaining victory over disease. Unfortunately, we can consider only relative victory, since parallel with the development of society newer diseases, “patterns of diseases” appeared. While in developing countries still the former patterns of diseases are ruling, in all developed societies the civilization diseases are rapidly spreading. This process is characteristic for Eastern European countries, that is for Slovakia, too. The study examines the behavior factors, more concretely smoking, alcohol and drug consumption, and physical exercise. The target group of the examination was the Hungarian and Slovak youth between 15 and 29 years of age on the territory of Slovakia lived by Hungarians, who were addressed during the international youth research titled Mozaik 2001. The sample consisted of 1000 Hungarian nationality and 500 Slovak nationality young people. Except for characterizing smoking, alcohol and drug consumption, and sporting practices of the target group the author was curious whether any significant differences can be proven between the behavior of men and women, and/or Hungarians and Slovaks. The results showed that health-damaging behavior of men is more characterized for men than for women. Men smoke, consume alcohol and drugs more than women... continue reading →
Comparing the data of the two last population censuses three important changes can be seen: 1. first of all the rate of those respondents who had not answered the question on religious denomination substantially dropped from 17% to 3%; consequently (2.) the rate of those who classify themselves to one of the denominations increased to 84% (this increase is striking mainly in case of Román Catholics); (3.) at the same time there were more respondents with no denomination. These changes are fundamentally connected with the loosening of social climate after 1989 (who due to several reasons did not want or did not dare to confess themselves before, although in 2001 classified themselves to a denomination). Although it was proved that the increase of the number of people with religious denomination is one of the forms of the manifestations of social conformity, that the most simply could be interpreted that it is fashionable, and in certain cases it is an interest to be religious. Comparing the religiousness of Hungárián and Slovak youth the following can be stated: 1. denomination statistics mentioned in the introduction form only a very wide frame of religiousness that is in practice füled with various content.... continue reading →
From which do people consume more: bread or culture? There is no word onbread in the writing, although there is on culture, because the youth researchtitled Mozaik 2001 introduces data in connection with cultural consumption.The „bag” labelled cultural consumption contains reading, visits of differentcultural institutions, places (cinema, theatre, concert, exhibition, library, bookstore, etc), but alsó media-consumption that includes TV watching, radio listening, newspaper reading and receiving other média, e.g. billboards and internet usage, as well. From this list it is evident that those members of developed societies that have no problem with obtaining everyday bread, evidentlyconsume more from culture. Therefore the introducing question is to be modified as follows: from which fields of culture does the Hungárián and the Slovak youth living in South Slovakia consume in a big and from which in a smallextent? In connection with the inner structure of cultural consumption the examination has not brought new results, although confirmed the known trend: theabsolute determining element of the youth’s cultural consumption is mediaconsumption, and more precisely, TV watching and mainly commercial – andcomparing with the Slovak youth, the Hungárián youth’s consumption rate isevén higher. Radio is alsó significantly present in the everyday life of the youth.... continue reading →
The authors analyse the Act on 1%, i.e. that legal enactment, according to which in Hungary from 1997 and in Slovakia from 2002 the taxpayers can con-tribute with 1% of their tax to the functioning of a non-profit organisation. This study was co-ordinated by the Non-profit Information and Education Centre in Hungary (Nonprofit Információs és Oktatói Központ- NIOK) and sup-ported by the Sasakawa Foundation within the framework of the Philantropy Project with the aim to map and compare the Hungárián and Slovak experience that can sérve for others, too. In Hungary, the reason for adopting the law was legislation; in Slovakia the act was adopted as a result of intense lobby activity of the civil sector. In both cases small groups initiated the adoption of the law. By course of law, the Citizen can “personally” contribute to the work of a civil organisation. The state itself renounces 1% of its tax revenues, and con-tributes to the functioning of the civil sector as well. And this is a kind of reval-uation of the state’s role, and an important form of decentralisation. According to the authors, the successfulness of the Act on 1% has two basic factors: the number and structure... continue reading →
The author in her study informs about the survey that examined the utilisation of supports granted to higher education and research institutions from 1990 to persons over the border, specifically: the effectiveness of teaching, the Domus-program me and PhD/DLA courses provided at branch departments of Hungarian universities and colleges. The main reason of the interest in branch departments of Hungarian universities and colleges is that the young people obtain higher education qualification in Hungarian language. Although obtaining a diploma does not automatically guarantee the improvement of job opportunities, partly because they first have to have it accepted, and partly because it is generally known that in Slovakia, except for a few districts, there are few jobs that require higher education. The reason why PhD and DLA-students decide to pursue their further studies is that they wish to grow professionally, and to obtain the status of a researcher and/or university teacher. They also claim that these studies are important, because in their opinion it gives them professional competency and research experience, therefore they are more optimistic when judging job opportunities than those respondents who attended branch departments. As negative experience they stated poor consulting opportunities, high financial burdens, but most... continue reading →
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