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In this paper, the changes of the ethnic and confessional structures of the population of two municipalities in the border area of south-eastern Serbia during a fifty-year period (1961 - 2011) are analyzed from the demographic and socio-psychological perspectives. Considering that the territories of these two municipalities partly overlap with the Bulgarian and Macedonian state borders, the focus of the research was directed towards the presence of certain nationalities, ethnic diversity, and the quality of interethnic relations. Simultaneously, the examination of ethnic distance among young people confirmed the initial assumptions about their emphasized openness towards the members of other nationalities and readiness for cooperation in all spheres of social life, whereby the belonging to a particular nation or ethnic group loses its importance in comparison to moral and psychological qualities of a person.

Borders are set between people for the purpose of emphasizing their differences and establishing self identity in contrast to others' identities. A border between 'them and us' determines not only our direct contact with others, but also the way in which we perceive and evaluate them. A border can be a source of both cooperation and conflict. The aim of this text is to re-evaluate different social and psychological meanings that borders hold for different peoples, social groups and individuals. We will try to make a connection between social and psychological factors which cause and configure the establishment of borders, and connect them to those which in various social contexts help with their overcoming. Another aspect that we would like to discuss is concerned with the types and functions of borders as parts of lives and perceptive notions of individuals and social groups. Some borders prevail because they maintain 'the images of self and others', others lose their importance, and at the same time new borders are set daily. 'Living on the border' is a phrase which can describe various situations in social life. It is a sui generis quality, which implies the establishment of a specific border life 'subculture'. The following will be taken as factors which influence the establishment of a border: tradition, value systems, religion and socialization, while people and the family will be presented as groups which experience the consequences of this phenomenon.

The aim of this study is to determine if there is a difference among managers and executives in terms of burnout, tendency to psychosomatic reactions, achievement motivation and personality (based on Big Five model). The study was conducted on 338 employees. The instruments that were used are: MBI-GS, HI test from KON 6, MOP test, NEO PI-R & Fiedler’s Least Preferred Coworker Scale (LPC). The results show that there is not difference in burnout between managers and executives. Still it is confirmed the difference in exhaustion and cynicism: managers showed a higher level of exhaustion, while executives showed a higher level of cynicism. There is no difference in overall achievement motivation, but it is confirmed the difference on persistence and planning (higher for managers). There is no difference in psychosomatic reactions or in personality, except higer level of executives’ Neurotisizm. Managerial styles & the length of service are not significant sources of differentiation of basic variables. Males, managers showed higer level of burnout, while women, executives, showed higher level of some aspects of achievement motivation. These findings were confirmed by canonical discriminant analysis: personality profiles of managers and executives are significantly different - executives showed higher level on Neuroticism, Agreebleness, Cynicism, Psychosomatic & Competition and lower level on Persistence, Planning, Exhaustion and Consciousness. With taking these results into consideration we can conclude that job demands of different levels of organization reflect on personality of employees and may contribute to the burnout. Identification of bournout aspects within organization and further examination of factors that contribute to burnout, represent the possibility of results practical implementation in burnout prevention. This can contribute to improving the health of employees, as well as increasing their motivation and satisfaction, which are the fundamentals of a successful business.

The objective of this research was to examine and determine the degree of the specific stress coping strategies used by athletes; to determine if there are any differences in the prevalence of the specific strategies used for coping with stressful situations between more successful athletes, less successful athletes and non-athletes; and to determine whether at all, and to what extent, the prevalence of using different stress coping strategies is related to the notions of emotional competence, self-efficacy, dominant time perspective, achievement motivation and personality traits. Furthermore, one of the research objectives was to examine whether success in sports, not going in for sports, the type of sport one goes in for and the gender of the athlete play any moderator role in the correlation between emotional intelligence, selfefficacy, dominant time perspective, achievement motivation and personality traits, on one hand, and using different stress coping strategies, on the other hand. One general and seven specific hypotheses were defined based on these objectives. The hypotheses were verified on different examinee subsamples. The overall number of the examinees who took part in this research was 509 (340 athletes, 171 of whom belong to the subsample of more successful athletes, 169 to less successful athletes and 169 to the subsample of non-athletes). The research variables were adequately operationalised. The statistical techniques used for analysing the data were: the Pearson correlation coefficient, the t-test for independent samples, linear and hierarchical regression analysis (moderated multiple regression analysis). The most significant results obtained by this research are as follows: More successful athletes reveal statistical significance in the usage of problem-focused coping strategies in relation to less successful athletes; and an identical relation is revealed between athletes and non-athletes. Athletes in team sports are more prone to use avoidant coping strategies, just as women do in relation to men. Emotional intelligence, achievement motivation, self-efficacy, personality traits, conscientiousness and openness, are in a statistically significant and positive correlation to problem-focused strategies. Regarding the moderator effects that success in sport, type of sport, (not)going in for sports and gender have on the correlation between specific stress coping strategies and sociopsychological factors, the following conclusions may be reached: A) Success moderates the correlation between the emotion-focused strategy and self-efficacy, the correlation between the avoidant coping strategy and governing emotions, and the correlation between distraction as a coping strategy and governing emotions. B) Going in for sports moderates the correlation between avoidance and extraversions. C) The type of sport moderates the correlation between the problem-focused strategy and extraversion, between emotionality and social diversion, extraversion and social diversion. D) Gender moderates the correlation between conscientiousness and the problem-focused strategy, and the correlation between self-efficacy and the problem-focused strategy.