The research covered 36 Serbs from all over Croatia and the findings have been published in the latest issue of the Politicka Misao journal.
Author Filip Skiljan says this was not a public opinion survey but interviews which do not allow far-reaching conclusions and which are not fully representative.
Respondents were mainly pessimistic about the future of Serbs in Croatia, fearing extinction, assimilation and ethnic mimicry, and claiming that their fears are justified.
The author analysed the traditional and modern elements of Serb identity in Croatia, the traditional elements being the Orthodox faith, the alphabet and military history, and the modern ones being language and literature, civil, social and political values, care for ethnic status and ethnic organisations, and attachment to the National Liberation Struggle.
After the break-up of Yugoslavia, the development of Serb identity in Croatia has been ambivalent, Skiljan says. On the one hand, there is retraditionalisation and a "return to identity" after it was neglected in Yugoslavia, while on the other, the Serb community in Croatia is significantly smaller after the 1990s war, there are fears and a stronger assimilation trend.
Many Serbs left Croatia and will not come back, which is why this ethnic community might disappear, Skiljan says.