Determinants of Place Attachment: Youth of Vukovar-Syrmia County as an Example

Abstract

This paper explores place attachment on the example of students from the third and fourth grades of high school in the area of Vukovar-Syrmia County. The objective of the research is to determine the degree of place attachment shown by young people, as well as the degree to which the perception of material conditions of life, social cohesion, and values influence the way they show their attachment. In this paper, we talk about place attachment as a part of territorial identity and we discuss the ways it is affected by other important elements of life in a certain territory, but also the values. The research has confirmed the thesis that social cohesion has a significant connection to place attachment. It has also been shown that this variable influenced place attachment to a higher degree than different aspects of material conditions of life in a certain place. Also, it is shown that subjects' values impact place attachment, where subjects with traditional values showed a higher degree of place attachment.