Demography and Social Statistics

Une étude longitudinale sur le développement de la compétence interculturelle chez des étudiants de deux programmes intensifs, proposés dans la cadre du Programme d’éducation et de formation tout au long de la vie Erasmus, est ici présentée. Le modèle éducatif,
fondé sur la mobilité internationale et sur un projet visant l’acquisition de compétences sociales et de communication spécifiques, favorisait l’acquisition de la compétence interculturelle et globale. L’ étude a été menée pendant six ans sur 196 étudiants participant
pendant cette période à deux programmes intensifs consécutifs. Onze universités, de huit pays européens, y participaient. L’ objectif était le développement de compétences interculturelles chez des étudiants de diverses formations supérieures dans les universités
partenaires. L’ analyse d’un questionnaire d’auto-évaluation a fourni une structure factorielle décrivant le caractère multidimensionnel et holistique de la compétence interculturelle, et son lien étroit avec l’expérience à l’international. Le modèle factoriel révèle
que l’infrastructure sociale de la compétence interculturelle est un processus de sensibilisation
au contexte et de développement d’une sociabilité inclusive. La mobilité n’agit pas directement sur la compétence, mais vient s’associer à des facteurs tels que l’utilisation du Web 2.0 comme outil didactique, et l’apprentissage par la pratique et collaboratif.
Cela renvoie à la valorisation des apprentissages informels pour le développement de compétences clés, comme prévu dans l’ECVET.

The paper analyses the phenomenon of extramarital births in Serbia in the period of 1950-2008. Great changes that European countries have been undergoing in the last half-century related to fertility and family forms were also followed by an intense increase in the share of extramarital births. This is also true for Serbia (excluding Kosovo), where the share of extramarital births in total live births for the period of 1950-2008 increased almost 3 times (from 8.0% to 22.8%), and their number increased by a fifth (from 13,1 to 15,7 thousand). At the beginning of the observed period, significant differences existed in the percentage shares of extramarital births in the main regions, with the share in Vojvodina several times that of Central Serbia. Subsequent divergent dynamics led to the disappearance of regional differences and, after 1970, the level of extramarital fertility was mostly balanced.

From a European aspect, the increase in the share of extramarital births in Serbia was moderate, with Serbia being one of the few countries that also recorded a decrease in the share of extramarital births in the last four decades (between 1970 and 1980). In comparison with other European countries, position of Serbia changed during the observed period from the top towards the bottom of the list, so that it was in its lower half in 2008. During the 1990s, as well as at the beginning of the 2000s, the greatest increase in the share of extramarital births in Europe was recorded in countries in transition.

In the paper, the changes in the marital status of the population were treated as one of the determinants of the increase of extramarital births in Serbia. The paper also points out the similarities and differences between births in cohabitation and marriage, and legal aspects related to extramarital unions and extramarital births were also analyzed. The conclusions about the degree of presence of births in stable partner unions were made indirectly, based on the results of survey research and the latest available data on recognition children by their fathers. Since approximately three fifths of extramarital children at the beginning of the 2000s were not recognized, it was assumed that they were born in unstable unions and that they were brought up by their mothers alone. At the same time, the small level of cohabitations, discovered through survey research on the representative sample, shows that the increase in extramarital births was not proportionally followed by an increase in cohabitation. Therefore, based on indirect indicators, the authors conclude that the phenomenon of extramarital birth in Serbia was not the result of an advanced transition in partner relationships and abandoning of marriage as the partner union in which children are born. At the same time, the importance of understanding the social context of births was pointed out on the example of the Czech Republic, as a country in transition.

The paper explores a link between suicides and cultural, social, political and economic influences. Among the protective factors that lower suicide probability are proper treatment of mental illness and substance abuse, good social support, favorable socio-economic conditions, religious and cultural beliefs which do not accept suicide as an option in solving problems, adequate representation of suicides in the media, as well as restricted access to means of suicide.
The analysis of statistical facts about suicides in Serbia in the second half of the 20th century, especially during the 2000s, encompasses the most significant trends in number of suicides as well as differences by sex and age. Special attention is paid to regional differences and, in connection with that, differences according to ethnic affiliation. Specificities related to the frequency of suicides depending on marital status and level of education were also explored.
It is concluded that efficient carrying out adopted strategies, and especially defining a national strategy for suicide prevention, can lead to the lowering of the number of suicides in Serbia.

The systematic literature search on the fertility rate was performed on articles from the Web of Science compiled by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) to provide major publication characteristics. All articles related to Fertility from year 1980 to 2011 were analyzed with the bibliometric approach using non-parametrics techniques. Total Citation, Citation per year and Cited References were significantly different between the 80's, 90's and 2000's, with more than a 100% increase in the number of publication. The association between number of authors and citation per year were significantly weak. Number of publication in a journal posed a poor negative association with the citation per year. Similarity between Authors Keyword and KeyWords Plus® do not promote the increase in citation per year. The author's affiliation and country of publication would be an interesting exploration for future fertility research. The bibiliometric analyses on Fertility is rather new and vital, as the key finding will provide researchers guidance in the literature search and future publication.