INFLUENCE OF PARENTHOOD ON CITIZEN PREPAREDNESS FOR RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS CAUSED BY FLOODS Vladimir M. Cvetković The Academy of Criminalistic and Police Studies, Belgrade, vladimirkpa@gmail.com Aleksandar Ivanov Faculty of Security, Skopje, Idrizovo,”1” Kolonija, 2A, akademec@gmail.com Boban Milojković The Academy of Criminalistic and Police Studies, Belgrade, boban.milojkovic@kpa.edu.rs Abstract: In this paper that presents the quantitative study, authors examined the influence of parenthood on the citizen preparedness to respond to natural disasters caused by floods in the Republic of Serbia. Taking into account all municipalities in Serbia in which there is a risk of flooding, 19 of these were randomly selected. In selected municipalities the research was undertaken in those areas and households that have been or are potentially the most vulnerable in relation to the level of high water with the use of a multi-stage random sample. In the research it was applied test method based on the technique of interviewing. The research results indicate that heavy rains encourage parents in higher percents to think about preparedness for responding in relation to citizens who are not parents. Parents to a greater extent as the reasons for not taking preventive measures point out that their assistance in this matter would not mean much, that they expected that in actions of protection and rescue primarily would be engaged citizens from flood-affected areas, then they know the safety procedures for response and they would be to a greater extent evacuated in friends’ places, etc. In domestic theory on disasters, there has been an insufficient number of experimental researches, while at the same there are no papers on the relationship between parenting and the preparedness of citizens to respond. Thus, the practical aim of the research was to contribute to the improvement of citizens' preparedness to respond to natural disasters caused by floods. Namely, the research indicates the way how should influence on parents in order to raise preparedness for response to a higher level. Key words: safety, natural disasters, floods, citizens, parenthood, preparedness for response, Serbia. INTRODUCTION Many physical aspects of natural disasters are out of control of people and severely threaten them. This does not mean that people behave passively in facing them, but design and implement measures to mitigate effects of natural disasters. 1 Attention of social sciences directed to disasters is relative novelty. Drabek suggests that research of disasters is located at a strategic crossroads between legal, economic, political and environmental dimensions, 2 as well as technical and technological, safety, managerial and geo-informational dimensions. 3 Community members can respond to disasters in different ways. They simply can absorb impacts of disaster with little or no pre-designed action and rely on improvisation to meet the immediate and long term needs. However, as awareness of potential 1 Jakovljević et. al. (2015). Prirodne katastrofe i obrazovanje (Natural disaster and education). Beograd: Univerzitet u Beogradu, Fakultet bezbednosti, 2015., str. 19. 2 Drabek, T. E.: Human system responses to disaster: An inventory of sociological findings. New York, Springer, 1986. p. 14. 3 Milojković, B. (2014). Geotopografsko obezbeđenje upotrebe jedinica policije u akcijama zaštite i spasavanja od poplava u maju 2014. godine (Geotopographic security use police units in the actions of protection and rescue from floods in may 2014). Bezbednost, 56(3), p. 6.