Cross-cultural study on the rights of the child in Slovenia - The first ten years

In the introduction to this article, a brief outline of this small mid-Euro pean country and young democracy is given. Also, Children's Parliament is d escribed, as an example of cooperation of the state and of the non-governme ntal organizations in the field of children's rights. In the main section, main findings of the Cross-Cultural Study on the Rights of the Child are pr esented. Tn the years 1991 to 1992, we interviewed a nationally representat ive sample of children aged 12-14 years and 16-18 years, their teachers and school counsellors. We found the survey instruments to be reliable and age -sensitive. While developmental differences regarding students are well doc umented, the adults in our sample did not follow the changes accordingly - middle school students are seen as being just as much 'children' as the ele mentary school students. A number of other findings are also discussed. In the years 1994 to 1995 we carried out a new pilot study where we tested sev eral possible improvements of the surrey instrument. Some of them are used in the questionnaires that are being used in the 2000-2001 survey sweep.