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AD ALTA

JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

says that for the child it is not important whether the parents are
married or not. The highest level of disagreement was expressed
by grandparents (66%), followed by parents (58%). The lowest
level of disagreement could be seen in the student group (48%).
This disagreement of all three groups of respondents with the
statement “For the child it is not important whether the parents
are married or not” confirms the norm that requires so that the
child is born to married parents. According to the opinions of the
respondents, the marriage of parents represents an important
matter for the child.

Based on the results obtained with the analysis of the answers to
the statement No 2 “It is not necessary so that the parents get
married before the birth of the child”, we can confirm different
evaluations of this statement from the point of view of three
observed generations. The highest level of disagreement with the
statement No 2 was expressed by grandparents (74%: I totally
disagree 29%, I rather disagree 45%) and by parents (59%: I
totally disagree 19%, I rather disagree 40%), i.e. according to
their opinion it is necessary so that the parents get married before
the birth of their child. This condition of getting married was the
least important for students who agree with the given statement
(44%: 17% I totally agree, 27% I rather agree). According to
students, it is not necessary to get married before the birth of the
child. 44% of students, 36% of parents and 20% of grandparents
agreed with this statement. The statistical analysis confirms that
the mentioned differences in the answers of respondents are
statistically significant, i.e. they are statistically significantly
related to the fact which generational group the respondents
belong to. Regarding to the mentioned results, we can assume
that the generations of grandparents and parents have more
traditional opinions on the legalization of the child with the
marriage of the parents, compared to the generation of students.

The second set of statements (No 3 – 5) was focused on the
gender aspects of parenthood and other types of family (single-
parent family, homosexual family). Our aim was to find out
whether there prevail traditional opinions on the upbringing of
children, i.e. whether this task is connected primarily with the
maternal role. We also wanted to obtain the opinions on the
upbringing of children in different types of family. We tested the
statistical significance of differences in the opinions of the
respondents of particular groups about the following statements:

3.

Women can care about children better than men.

Single parents are able to bring up children in the same
way as the complete families.

The upbringing of children by partners of the same gender
can be as good as the upbringing by parents of both
genders.

Once again we tested the statistical significance of the
differences in the opinions of three groups of respondents about

the statements No 3 - 5 by means of the

- test (Table 2).

Table 2 Results of the

- test

Statement

No 3

50,257

0,000

No 4

7,200

0,515

No 5

18,068

0,020

Based on the results mentioned in the Table 2, we can state that
respondents of three groups answered to the statements No 3 and
No 5 with a statistically significant difference, but they answered
to the statement No 4 without any statistical difference. In the
evaluation of the statement No 3 “Women can care about
children better than men” we found the highest level of
agreement with this statement by grandparents (61%: I totally
agree 43%, I rather agree 18%). From these results it is evident
that the generation of grandparents has the most traditional
opinions and they perceive the parental role primarily as the
maternal role. Parents (45%) and students (27%) agreed to a
lesser extent with the fact that women can care about children
better than men. They connect the parental role with the mother,
as well as with the father. At the same time, we can see that

students disagree with this opinion about better care about
children provided by women than by men the most (41%: I
totally disagree 11%, I rather disagree 30%). The opinions of
students and parents witness about the weakening of the
traditional conviction that the parental role is primarily a
maternal role. Statistically significant differences were evident
also in the evaluation of the statement No 5 about the upbringing
of children by homosexual parents. The most rejecting attitude to
the upbringing of children by homosexual parents could be seen
in the group of grandparents. 72% of grandparents disagree with
the opinion that the upbringing of children by these parents
could be as good as the upbringing by parents of both genders (I
totally disagree 48%, I rather disagree 24%). Comparing these
three groups of respondents, students and their parents have a
less rejecting attitude (55%, 55%) to the upbringing of children
by homosexual partners, i.e. only a half of parents and students
perceive the upbringing of children in this type of family
negatively. A very interesting finding is the fact that relatively a
big group of respondents (students 20%, parents 32%,
grandparents 18%) could not express their attitude to this
question. This is probably related to the lack of scientifically
verified facts about the impact of the homosexuality of parents
on the development and upbringing of children.

The statistical analysis of the answers to the statement No 4 did
not show any statistically significance of differences between the
groups. We found out ambivalent attitudes of respondents to the
upbringing of children by a single parent. Comparing their
opinions, we found out a similar level of agreement, as well as
disagreement with the statement “Single parents can bring up
children in the same way as the complete families”. 46% of
students, 46% of parents and 47% of grandparents agreed with
this statement. Disagreement was expressed by 40% of students,
37% of parents and 34% of grandparents. We can state that an
explicitly rejecting (or accepting) attitude to the upbringing of
children by a single parent was not expressed by any group of
respondents.

The third set of statements (No 6 – 8) was focused on the topic
of childlessness because the natality in Slovakia and in other
European countries has a decreasing tendency. On one hand,
there increases the number of infertile couples and, on the other
hand, there increases also the number of those who have decided
for the childlessness. For these reasons we wanted to obtain
opinions of the public on the value of a child in their lives. We
asked them if they perceive a child as one of their life aims and

how they evaluate voluntary childlessness. By means of the

test we tested the statistical importance of differences between
the three groups of respondents in their opinions about the
following statements:

6. Who does not have a child, cannot live a happy life.
7. It is not correct if people do not have children as a meaning of
life.
8. Voluntary childlessness is an expression of egoism, careerism
and indolence.
The results are recorded in the Table 3.

Table 3 Results of the

- test

Statement

No.6

20,213

0,009

No.7

28,622

0,000

No.8

28,752

0,000

From the results mentioned in the Table 3 it is evident that
respondents of three generations have statistically different
opinions on all statements related to childlessness we presented
to them. The answers confirm a disagreement with the statement
No 6 „Who does not have a child, cannot live a happy life“. All
three groups of respondents expressed a similar level of
disagreement with the given statement (students 58%, parents
46%, grandparents 50%), but they had a different level of
agreement with this statement (students 14%, parents 33%,
grandparents 30%). Parents and grandparents agree with this
statement more than students, they attribute

a bigger meaning to

the child in the context of life happiness. Respondents perceived

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