Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Publication
    Strength of children’s European identity: findings from majority and minority groups in four conflict-affected sites
    The European Union (EU) aims to promote peace. This research investigates the saliency of a European identity for children from majority and minority groups in four conflict-affected societies in Europe (Croatia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland (NI), and Republic of North Macedonia (RNM)). These sites represent a range of relations with the EU (e.g., leaving the EU, an EU member, wanting to join the EU). Participants included 442 children aged 7 to 11 years, evenly split by gender and group status (Croatia n = 90; Kosovo n = 107; NI n = 60; RNM n = 185). After a draw-and-tell task to prime European identity (vs. ingroup or control condition), we measured children’s identification with Europe, outgroup attitudes and prosociality. Although the European identity prime was not effective, children’s strength of European identity varied by site and group status and related to more positive attitudes and prosociality towards the conflict-rival outgroup. Implications for the future of the European project are discussed.
    Scopus© Citations 3  31
  • Publication
    Children’s understanding of ethnic group symbols: Piloting an instrument in the Republic of North Macedonia
    (American Psychological Association, 2019-08-30) ; ; ;
    Assessing children’s awareness of ethnic identity and group boundaries is important in conflict-affected societies. For example, in the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM), tense interethnic relations remain and can be seen in the largely separate living patterns, particularly in schools. This brief report analyses data from 194 children (57.7% female, 42.3% male; 45.9% Macedonian, 54.1% Albanian) in primary school. A series of one sample t-tests, with Bonferroni correction, demonstrate the viability of a new quantitative tool for measuring children’s awareness of symbols relevant to interethnic relations in RNM. The findings indicate that primary school aged children are able to sort both ingroup and outgroup symbols with the hypothesized ethnic group. Moreover, ethnic awareness is present among the earliest school grades and increases with age. This approach may be used in future research and adapted in other conflict-affected settings to better understand the foundations of children’s interethnic attitudes and behaviors.
    Scopus© Citations 12  288
  • Publication
    Children’s outgroup giving in settings of intergroup conflict: The developmental role of ingroup symbol preference
    Understanding when children develop a sense of group boundaries has implications for conflict and its resolution. Integrating Social Identity Development Theory and the Developmental Peacebuilding Model, we investigate whether preferences for ethno-religious ingroup symbols mediate the link from child age to outgroup prosocial giving among 5- to 11-year-old children from both majority and minority backgrounds in three settings of protracted intergroup conflict (N=713, M=7.97, SD=1.52, 52.6% female). Participants represented the conflict rival ethno-religious groups in each setting (Northern Ireland (n=299): 48.5% Protestant, 51.5% Catholic; Kosovo (n=220): 54.1% Albanian, 45.9% Serbian; Republic of North Macedonia (RNM) (n=194): 45.9% Macedonian, 54.1% Albanian) and were largely from lower to middle class families; 4% of participants from other ethnic backgrounds were excluded from the current analyses. Multiple group, bias-corrected bootstrapped mediation found that ingroup symbol preference mediated the link from child age to outgroup prosocial giving; that is, older children expressed higher ingroup symbol preference which was linked with lower outgroup giving. Across Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and the RNM, there was some significant variation in the strength of specific paths; however, there was a significant indirect effect in all three settings. The findings advance cross-cultural understanding of how age relates to ingroup symbol preferences and outgroup prosocial giving across the elementary school years, with implications for children’s long-term peacebuilding contributions in three conflict-affected societies.
    Scopus© Citations 12  41
  • Publication
    Children’s Ethno-National Flag Categories in Three Divided Societies
    Flags are conceptual representations of group membership that can prime nationalism and allegiance to one’s group (Butz, 2009; Firth, 1973). Flags of rival groups in post-accord societies may fuel further divisions (Bryson & McCartney, 1994; Holmes & Cagle, 2000; Jarman, 1997; Morris, 2005). Yet, in settings of historic intergroup conflict, flags may also symbolize unity and peace. For instance, in Bolivia, the Wiphala flag holds dual status with the Bolivian flag; flown side by side, these flags symbolize unity with the indigenous minority population (Flesken, 2014). In Kosovo, the creation of a new flag after the break from Yugoslavia symbolized the formation of a new subordinate national identity—the Kosovar identity (Maloku, Derks, Van Laar, & Ellemers, 2016). Given these multiple meanings and representations, investigating children’s understanding of the symbolic content of flags representing conflict-related groups and national allegiances can shed light on early conceptions of nationality. Framed by Social Identity Development Theory (SIDT; Nesdale, 1999; 2004), we investigate the development of categorization of, and preferences for, ethnic flags in three post-accord societies: Northern Ireland (NI), the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM), and Kosovo.
    Scopus© Citations 6  92