Preliminary communication
Family Structure and Living Conditions of Families in Rural and Urban Settlements
Gordana Berc
; Department of Social Work, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Damir Ljubotina
; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Slavica Blažeka
; Department of Social Work, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In this paper, authors analyse family structure and living conditions of
families with primary school aged children in Croatia in regard to the
type of settlement they live in (villages, towns or cities). In regard to
family structure, the research looks at who are the members of the
family and their socio-demographic characteristics (age, level of education, profession), while living condition were assessed by asking
subjects to evaluate their housing condition and the availability and functioning of services in the local community. Subjects evaluated public transport availability for going to work, the possibilities for attaining household supplies, the promptness and efficancy of administration, availability of after school childcare in schools and
possibilities for further education in the local community. Results show
that for most of the analysed indicators there is a statistically significant difference between rural and urban families. That is especially evident in the average number of family members living in
the same household where on average there are more family members in the villages than in towns and cities. Same indicators show that a traditional type of family structure still exists in families
living in villages, which have more children and relatives (grandparents and other relatives) who live in the same household
than families in towns and cities. Other indicators show that there is a
statistically significant difference between educational level of mothers
and fathers in rural and urban regions: most subjects with high school
education live in towns and cities and the least number in villages.
Authors also describe the differences between the parents' professions where fathers mainly work as blue colour workers and artisans and mothers in administrative jobs or as housewives. Most
subjects regardless of where they live evaluate the housing conditions
as comfortable. Out of all subjects, subjects from villages are the most dissatisfied with the availability of supplies, the possibilities for
further education and with the accessibility and efficiency of administration, mostly due to poor transport connection to the trade,
businesses, administrative and school centres.
Keywords
family structure; education level; income level; housing conditions; characteristics of local community
Hrčak ID:
33485
URI
Publication date:
12.3.2009.
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