Background The extreme social circumstances caused by declared COVID-19 pandemic deeply intervene people’s everyday life and should not be neglected but seen through the view of social reality pinpointing the ‘ordinary’ people. In this article, authors explored basic segments of everyday and their subjective perception to what extent sleeping habits, physical inactivity, physical activity, nutritional habits and smoking have changed. Methods The online survey was conducted in nine European countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo*, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) in 4108 participants, aged 15–82 years. The survey took place 30–40 days after World Health Organization declared COVID-19 pandemic state, from 15 April to 3 May 2020. Results The results have shown 30 min longer sleeping time, 50% longer physical inactivity time, 65% longer screen time, 43% shorter walking time, 24% shorter sport time and 37% longer physical work time. Additionally, body mass gains (0.3 kg) could be explained in 20.6% with meals sizes, unhealthy food consumption, screen time and sport time. Further, respondents reported more regular meals (44%) and healthier meals with less alcohol consumption and less smoking, which have been positive outcomes of home confinement. Conclusion The findings draw attention to negative changes in everyday praxis (inactivity, body mass gain) after such a short period. Because of possible risk to population’s health (especially of countries such as Italy and Spain with serious threat and more stringent measures), findings enable development of recommendations for maintaining healthy lifestyle habits with minimal negative health consequences in similar pandemic circumstances.

The aim of the current study is to examine gender, age. and cross-country differences in fear of COVID-19 and sense of loneliness during the lockdown, by comparing people from those countries with a high rate of infections and deaths (e.g., Spain and Italy) and from countries with a mild spread of infection (e.g., Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina). A total of 3876 participants (63% female) completed an online survey on “Everyday life practices in COVID-19 time” in April 2020, including measures of fear of COVID-19 and loneliness. Males and females of all age groups in countries suffering from the powerful impact of the COVID-19 pandemic reported greater fear of COVID-19 and sense of loneliness. In less endangered countries, females and the elderly reported more symptoms than males and the young; in Spanish and Italian samples, the pattern of differences is considerably more complex. Future research should thoroughly examine different age and gender groups. The analysis of emotional well-being in groups at risk of mental health issues may help to lessen the long term social and economic costs due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The aim of this research was to examine whether psychological variables which make up basic dimensions of personality and self-esteem distinguish competitors in combat sports from competitors in team sports. The research included 149 respondents, aged 19 to 27 years. The Self-Esteem Scale questionnaire was used to measure self-esteem. The BFI inventory was used to measure personality traits according to the Big Five model: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Openness to Experience. The basic research question is – does the set of psychological variables which make up basic dimensions of personality and self-esteem statistically significantly distinguish competitors in combat sports from the competitors in team sports? Both mean differences and simple discriminant function analyses for competitors in combat/team sports revealed that self-esteem, neuroticism, and conscientiousness were the most important factors distinguishing the two groups. Practical implications, limitations, and future research directions were discussed.

This research was a part of a field study, within the SAVE project funded under the Erasmus+ European programme. The study aimed at providing answers about the benefits of practicing sports in the prevention and reduction of peer violence. Generally, the frequency of aggressive behaviour was low, and equal in both tested groups. The results revealed a significant relationship between physical activity and prosocial behaviour, group cohesion and satisfaction of participants with the group. Furthermore, the athletes had a lower level of aggression compared to the students. Although this difference is small, it is in line with some previous studies and it is an indicator of sport benefits in the suppression of peer aggression. This finding is very important for policy makers, because some research showed that regardless of SES, sport is seen as a favourite extracurricular activity among parents. The results of this research should contribute to the overall aim of the SAVE project, i.e. the prevention of violent behaviour among peers. Thus, it should be observed and targeted in such a way as to systematically reduce the exposure of children and youth to violence.

This research tested the interactions among destination image, destination quality, sport event quality, and behavioral intentions in the context of small-scale sport events. The study included elite sambo athletes (N = 350) who participated in the World Sambo Championships, which were organized in Novi Sad (Serbia) in 2017 and 2018. The destination image was measured with the affective and cognitive dimensions, while the event quality was measured with the core, tangible and supporting dimensions. The results supported the measurement and structural models. They further indicated that the core aspect of the event quality directly influences participants’ behavioral intentions, while the destination quality partially mediates the relationship between destination image and participant behavioral intentions. The event quality was shown to have a direct relationship with the development of destination loyalty. The theoretical and applied value of these results are discussed.