National

Researcher groups projects (Research Council of Lithuania)

Ensuring Housing Needs: Challenges and Prospects in Lithuania

Project leader: dr. Jolanta Aidukaite
Duration: 2023 04 01 – 2026 03 31
Project team: dr. Kristina Senkuviene and dr. Ruta Ubareviciene.

Summary:

The aim of the project is to investigate the housing needs in Lithuania through the prism of housing as a social right, including the expectations of the population and the preferences of housing policy makers. Housing need is understood as a discrepancy between existing housing and desired housing. The need for housing includes all housing estates (own housing, public / social housing, rented housing in the private market). Housing as a social right is understood as the state’s obligation to provide a decent housing to every citizen / resident, regardless of their income. However, housing is increasingly perceived as an investment and commodity, and the state’s responsibility to guarantee decent housing for everyone, regardless of income, is decreasing. Therefore, questions arise: How can we guarantee everyone’s right to a decent home? What type of housing do Lithuanian residents most need? What is the demand for social/public housing as well as private rental housing? The answers to these questions will allow us to predict long-term housing needs and find appropriate solutions to social problems in the area of housing.

Ethnic, national and transnational identities and geopolitical atitudes of third-country nationals in Lithuania in the context of the war in Ukraine

Project leader: dr. Monika Frėjutė-Rakauskienė
Duration: 2023 04 03 – 2026 03 31
No. S-MIP-23-39,  Research Council Lithuania
Project partner is Vilnius University’s Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies
Project team: dr. Monika Frėjutė-Rakauskienė (Institute of Sociology LCSS), specialist Janina Koliato (Institute of Sociology LCSS)dr. Kristina Garalytė (Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, VU), dr. Kristina Šliavaitė (Institute of Asian and Transcultural StudiesVU).

Summary:
This project aims to research the nexus between identities (ethnic, national, transnational) and geopolitical atitudes of migrants in Lithuania from Ukraine, Belarus and India in the context of the war in Ukraine. We understand the war in Ukraine as a long-term process that began in 2014, including its causes, course and consequences that will likely span long atier the war will be over. We also view the war in Ukraine not merely as a regional, but also as a global event, creating food, energy and financial crises, restructuring the world’s geopolitical relations and directly affecting the lives and identities of people in different regions, directly or indirectly affected by war. The three groups of migrants (Ukrainians, Belarusians and Indians) were chosen for research due to their different proximity to the war and their home countries’ differing positioning with regards to the war. The research will focus on ethnically and regionally diverse groups of migrants, whose geopolitical atitudes are also likely to be significantly different and possibly even conflicting. Analyzing and comparing the narratives of migrants will allow us to understand how their identifications and geopolitical atitudes are affected by the immigration experiences in Lithuania in the context of the war in Ukraine. This will enable us to understand the points of contact and conflict among migrants in their perception of war and national belonging. The research is innovative because it explains underexplored processes of how national identities and geopolitical atitudes interact at the micro level. This research can be relevant in seeking a beter migrants’ integration into Lithuanian society.

(Not) to Become a Father: Lithuanian Men’s Procreative Behavior and Experiences of Childlessness 

Head of the research team: dr. D. Stumbrys
Duration: 2022 07 01 – 2024 06 30
No. P-MIP-22-286,  Research Council Lithuania
Members of the research team: dr. Gražina Rapolienė, dr. Margarita Gedvilaitė-Kordušienė, Vaida Tretjakova, dr. Lina Šumskaitė.

Summary:

Topics of men’s procreative behavior and experiences of childlessness extremely rarely fall into the field of sociological research traditionally focused on women. This tendency is observed in both Lithuanian and foreign research. In Lithuania, several qualitative studies have been conducted on the topic of men’s procreative behavior and paternal identity, but they are not representative and are intended to examine only a few narrow aspects of this research field. There is a lack of data on male fertility both in Lithuania and in other countries. Data on the number and birth order of men’s biological children  are not always recorded and are therefore considered inaccurate. The aim of this project is to assess men’s procreative behavior in Lithuania, identify individual, family and socio-cultural factors that determine it, and reveal subjective experiences of male childlessness. The project will use a) publicly available data of the European Social Survey (2018) to determine the population’s attitudes towards childless men; b) representative data of the Generations and Family Survey (2019), which will allow to analyze middle-generation male partnership and childbirth events, procreational desires and intentions, family gender roles; c) and the data of the qualitative study on male childlessness conducted for the first time in Lithuania, which will allow to reveal the subjective experiences of male childlessness. This study will significantly contribute to the knowledge of the phenomenon in Lithuania, as well as to the international scientific discussions. The results of the project are especially important from a practical point of view – when considering pronatalist policy measures aimed at men.

Socio-economic factors of youth life chances differentiation in Lithuania (YOUTH_CHANCE_LT)

Project leader: dr. Rūta Brazienė
Duration: 2022 04 01 – 2024 10 31
No. P-MIP-22-332
Project team: dr. Laima Okunevičiūtė Neverauskienė, dr. Arūnas Pocius, Sonata Vyšniauskienė, Justina Kraulėdaitė

Summary:

Project “Socioeconomic Factors of Youth Life Chances’ Differentiation in Lithuania” is aimed at revealing the main social and economic factors, determining the differentiation of life chances of the 18-35 years old Lithuanian youth. For the implementation of the study of socio-economic factors of the differentiation of young people’s life chances, a multi-level theoretical research model is used. At the macro level, the model includes a complex analysis of structural, institutional, and cultural factors, and various economic and social indicators (GDP, unemployment rate, youth unemployment rate, etc.). At the mezzo level, the role of family and community is examined. At the micro level, the individual experiences and attitudes of young people are analysed. Expected results of the project. This scientific project will allow a comprehensive analysis of youth from the perspective of life chances, and reveal the distribution of life chances for young people in Lithuania. On the basis of the research results, the differentiation indexes of youth life at the macro level will be constructed, allowing to reveal diversity of youth life chances (in terms of age, gender, education, region, etc.). An innovative multidimensional theoretical model, integrating ideas from sociology, economics, social policy, psychology, etc. will allow revealing a complex picture of the differentiation of young people’s chances in Lithuania. The results of this research will not only reveal the differentiation of young people’s life chances but will also allow to develop youth public policy recommendations and methodology for interested parties, which would enable more complex planning, solving, and improving the situation of young people at the national and regional level. The social benefit of the knowledge gained during the research and the formulated conclusions will be revealed in the formation of more effective youth policy measures and recommendations for public administration institutions. The results of the project will contribute to the formation and development of youth research in the Eastern and Central European regions. Dissemination results of the project. It is planned to publish an article in the journal, referred in the Scopus DB, to make at least four presentations at national and international scientific conferences, and to carry out a scientific seminar-discussion on the results of the project with relevant stakeholders

Peripheral regions in Lithuania: migration and local communities

Project leader: dr. Edikas Kriaučiūnas
Duration: 2021 09 01 – 2024 03 31
No. S-MIP-21-57  
Project team: dr. Donatas Burneika, dr. Rūta Ubarevičienė, dr. Viktorija Baranauskienė

Summary:

The main idea of the research project is to discover the peculiarities of the impact of local social actors (various local communities and their leaders, etc.) on the development trajectories in peripheral regions in Lithuania, suffering from fast depopulation. The research is targeted to the revelation of the revelation of peripheral regions and their development trajectories. The analysis of impact of local leader and communities is the next step of the project. Though the depopulation of most peripheral rural areas of Lithuania, just like in other European countries, is inevitable, its consequences depend on the sociodemographic structure that emerges in declining regions. One of the most important factors that shape the appeal of specific peripheral regions are local communities. Revelation of these local differences is one of the tasks of the project. At present there is quite a lot of studies targeted to municipal or especially county and country levels, but little is done on the level, which is actual place of residence of people or every day space, where “everybody knows everybody”, where “face to face“ contacts are essential and quality of which actually is the most important for everyone’s life. Obviously one of the reasons of different success of different places is related to different activities of local actors and local communities first of all. Understanding the interrelation of newcomers and local communities, differently performing in quite similar general post-soviet social structures, is the second task. How local responses can withhold global and regional challenges in our societies is still uncertain. Understanding formation of communities and effective leadership is the third task. The main goal of the project is the determination of the impact of effective leadership at community level for the development trajectories of peripheral rural places in Lithuania.

Families of the past historical demography of the Lithuanian households and families in the middle of the 19th century (FAMPAST)

Project leader: prof. Aušra Maslauskaitė
Duration: 2021 04 01 – 2024 03 01
No. S-MIP-21-29

Summary:

The project aims to reveal the demographic, spatial, and economic characteristics of households and families in the middle of the 19th century Lithuania. Empirically the project is based on the unique demographic historical dataset derived from the 1847 inventories collected in tsarist Russia.

The outcomes of the project will significantly contribute to the field of the historical family demography, which is still underdeveloped in Lithuania. Moreover, the empirical evidence will make the contribution to the ongoing discussion on the demographic past of the family in the Baltic countries, the links between family nuclearization and modernization.

Inventories represent a very valuable piece of the historical demographic information, as they record personal, demographic data of the household members, their marital or kin relationships with the household head, and the economic characteristics of the households. Inventories were digitalized during the implementation of the international MOSAIC project, but so far, no systematic analysis of the data has been carried out. The format of the data provides the opportunity to apply the advanced techniques of the demographic analysis and to uncover the composition of the households and families, their demographic, economic characteristics, spatial patterns of the households.

The dissemination of the project results includes the publication of the four papers (two papers in the CA/WoS indexed international journals published, one – submitted and one paper published in the Lithuanian journal indexed in the international databases). Three presentations will be made in the international scientific conferences and one in the scientific conference in Lithuania.

Other national projects

Changes and Prospects in the Tourism Sector Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

Head of the research tem: dr. Darius Liutikas
Duration: 2021 11 03 – 2023 09 01
No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-05-0057,  Research Council Lithuania
Members of the research team: dr. D. Liutikas, dr. D. Burneika, dr. E. Kriaučiūnas, dr. G. Pociūtė – Sereikienė, dr. V. Baranauskienė

Summary: 

The aim of the project is to analyse the development potential of the local and inbound tourism sector following the COVID-19 pandemic and to propose innovative forms of tourism activities related to new technologies, services and products. Tourism is one of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic. As the prospects of the tourism sector depend to a large extent on its renewal and innovation, the project participants focus on and focus on these aspects of the sector. In analysing the future prospects of the sector, it is necessary to take into account not only the changed social and health environment, but also the challenges of environmental protection, adaptation to climate change and digitisation. The development and deployment of tourism innovation is impossible without an innovative and creative society, and the project aims to assess not only the positive benefits of innovation but also social threats and risks and to propose measures to manage them.

The study examined the development of Lithuanian inbound and domestic tourism during and after the pandemic period. The impact on the tourism sector was found to be ambiguous and not necessarily negative. In addition to providing an opportunity for some local tourism activities, the pandemic has also provided a stimulus for innovation and change. Analyse state aid and its benefits, which, although very important, as the preliminary results show, have not been adequately distributed among all players in the tourism sector.

Postdoctoral fellowship projects

Identities of National Minority Youths: From Regional to Supranational (the Case of Šalcininkai District)

Postdoctoral fellow: dr. Vidmantas Vyšniauskas.
Postdoctoral supervisor: dr. Kristina Šliavaitė.
Duration: 2024 02 01 – 2026 01 31.

The research conducted in Lithuania up to this point to show that the identity of older generations of people belonging to ethnic minorities has been sufficiently and thoroughly studied. However, young people (i.e. born in 1990 and later) were either not included in these identity studies due to their age, or were underrepresented. Therefore, it is currently difficult to get a clear picture of the identity of the youths of national minorities. Increased knowledge in this area can help Lithuanian state institutions and non-governmental organizations to adjust their policies and services, and better respond to the needs of youths from national minorities. Considering the aforementioned lack of scientific knowledge the study aims to investigate the identification trajectories of youths born in Lithuania and living in Šalčininkai district from ethnic minorities, focusing on their tendencies to identify with a territory and/or community.

Exploring middle-aged women’s aging anxiety: used coping strategies and associated factors

Postdoctoral fellow: dr. Goda Gegieckaitė.
Postdoctoral supervisor: dr. Gražina Rapolienė.
Duration: 2024 03 01 – 2026 02 28.

Promoting successful aging is one of the priorities in rapidly aging Western societies. Individuals’ aging anxiety has been found to negatively impact successful aging later in life, therefore it is an important issue to understand and address. Aging anxiety is defined as the concern and anticipation of adverse losses centered around aging (Lasher & Faulkender, 1993). Given the distinct societal pressures and concerns that middle-aged women face related to age-related changes, there is a need for targeted research on middle-aged women’s aging anxiety. While there is some research on risk factors of aging anxiety, coping strategies used to deal with aging anxiety and factors associated with it are scarcely researched.
The aim of the proposed project will be to explore factors associated with aging anxiety and related coping strategies among middle-aged women. A qualitative and a quantitative study will be conducted to meet the objectives of the project. Objectives of the project will be to identify and analyze factors associated with aging anxiety and coping strategies used for aging anxiety among middle-aged women, and to analyze the association between aging anxiety, used coping strategies, and depression and anxiety symptoms. Possible differences in aging anxiety, used coping and their associations with other factors in different stages of middle adulthood will be analyzed as well.

National projects completed