Shrub encroachment and agricultural intensification have been a widespread occurrence in the former communist and socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Such changes have strongly affected grassland areas which are seen as hotspots of biodiversity in Europe. In this study we have investigated the changes in grassland cover as well as the causal mechanism of those changes in a selected region in Northern Croatia during the post-socialist transition. By using the mixed methods approach we combined remote sensing, statistical modelling and a household-based questionnaire (n=285) to map the changes in the grassland cover and to assess the socioeconomic and bio-physical contributing factors of the documented changes. The results demonstrate that areas seeing general depopulation trends and population ageing, along with increases in the amount of educated people are characterized by shrub encroachment and farmland abandonment, while flatlands and lowland areas are seeing higher rates of grassland to farmland conversion. The results also show that the partial de-agrarization characteristic for the socialist period has become a full de-agrarization in the post-socialist period, with the main impetus being education, rather than employment, as was the case during socialism.

Abstract:The aim of this study was to examine the construct validity of Pavlovian Temperament Survey (PTS) by determining the relationship between three Strelau´s dimensions of temperament (strength of excitation, strength of inhibition, mobility) and basic dimensions of personality as were defined by Eysenck and in the five-factor model of personality. It was expected that strength of excitation and mobility would have significant positive correlations with extraversion and negative correlations with neuroticism, while strength of inhibition would show significant negative correlations with neuroticism. Within two studies (N 1 = 74 female students, M age = 22; N 2 = 54 female students, M age = 20), Croatian version of PTS, Five−Factor Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire FF−NPQ, and Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire EPQ R/A were used. The reliability coefficients for all three instruments were satisfactory, although not very high. Coefficients of correlation determined in the first study were not entirely in agreement with either theoretical expectations or empirical results of other authors, probably due to small sample size. However, the results of the second study were in accord with the expected pattern of significant correlations and that could be considered an indicator of good construct validity of PTS. Since this was a preliminary study the results provide only a general insight into the research aim, and represent a good starting point for future validation studies of the Croatian version of PTS. Povzetek: Namen raziskave je bil oceniti konstruktno veljavnost hrvaške različice Vprašalnika temperamenta po Pavlovu (VTP), in sicer s preučitvijo odnosa med tremi dimenzijami temperamenta in dimenzijami osebnosti, kot jih je definiral Eysenck, ter dimenzijah osebnosti po modelu velikih pet. Na osnovi teorije smo pričakovali, da bosta moč ekscitacije in mobilnost imeli pozitivni korelaciji z ekstravertnostjo ter negativne korelacije z nevroticizmom, medtem ko naj bi dosežek na lestvici moč inhibicije negativno koreliral z nevroticizmom. V prvi raziskavi je sodelovalo 74 študentk (povprečna starost je znašala 22 let), v drugi raziskavi pa 54 študentk (povprečna starost je znašala 20 let). Poleg hrvaške različice VTP so udeleženke izpolnile tudi pet-faktorski neverbalni vprašalnik osebnosti (FF-NPQ) ter Eysenckov vprašalnik osebnosti (EPQ-R/A). Zanesljivost lestvic vseh uporabljenih inštrumentov je bila sprejemljiva. Korelacije med dimenzijami temperamenta in osebnosti v prvi raziskavi se v večini primerov niso prilegale teoretsko osnovanim pričakovanjem in rezultatom sorodnih raziskav. Ta rezultat je najverjetneje posledica majhnosti uporabljenega vzorca. V drugi raziskavi je vzorec korelacij ustrezal pričakovanjem, kar kaže na sprejemljivo konstruktno veljavnost hrvaške različice VTP. Pričujoča raziskava je preliminarne narave, zato rezultati predstavljajo zgolj dobro izhodišče za prihodnje validacisjke raziskave hrvašle različice VPT.Ključne beside: konstruktna veljavnost, Vprašalnika temperamenta po Pavlov...

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