The Russian invasion of Ukraine has fuelled debate about who is ‘European’. Yet, European identity is an elusive construct. A European identity can offer a sense of belonging to a group larger than the nation, prompting solidarity with a larger collection of people. Youth are more likely to identify as European than their older counterparts; moreover, childhood and adolescence are crucial periods for identity development. Here, we synthesise research on the development of European identity across childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.
We conducted a Rapid Evidence Assessment of European identity in 4-25 year olds, to understand (1) how to measure European identity, and what (2) predictors and (3) outcomes are linked with youth’s European identity.
The REA included 11 papers from disciplines such as psychology, education and sociology. Across the studies, five themes summarised how European identity is defined and measured in young people (Figure 1). The Complexity of European identity is reflected in the lack of a consistent tool to measure European identity, and permeates the other themes. European identity is also Ascriptive, as youth choose to identify as such, in search of the sense of Belonging that it may bring. European identity is closely related to the EU motto, United in Diversity, as we see both Similarity – such as a shared culture, history, desires and political identity, and Difference – as national subgroups under the ‘European’ umbrella have different historical, cultural and linguistic roots; there is variation in who identifies as European.
But, how is a European identity fostered? What implications does a European identity bring for those youth who hold it dear?
School-based interventions and tailored curricula can contribute to stronger European identification among youth, though effects vary based on group membership and status. Artistic programmes give insight into European identity construction among younger children. Knowledge about Europe and the EU give rise to stronger European identification, though political trust and the benefits of EU membership are stronger influences. Cross-border experiences through travel and friendships, and higher socio-economic status contribute to stronger identification. In terms of the implications of European identity in youth, two main benefits have been identified: more positive intergroup attitudes and political participation. There is a small but growing body of research on European identity among young people. Developing a measurement tool which taps into the complexities of the development of European identity is a fundamental next step in this research. Furthermore, only one study focused on youth under age 12, pointing to the need to study childhood. Given the promising findings of school-based interventions, and the effect of such a (potentially) unifying identity on social inclusion and political participation, this is an exciting area for future research for the 142 million young people living in Europe today.
*While working on this project, Isabelle Nic Craith was supported by an Enterprise Ireland grant [R23442] and a UCD Seed Funding grant [SF2025] to Laura K. Taylor
Research Impact Case Study by Assistant Professor Laura Taylor & Dearbháile Counihan (runners-up in the 2022 UCD Research Impact Case Study Competition).
This infographic video offers a glimpse into the goals of the HelpingKids! Lab and our current research exploring children’s inclusive peacebuilding!
This short video summarizes our previous international research and collaboration! Meet the Helping Kids! team and hear some of our research backgrounds, questions, and findings.
Could children helping and sharing with members of diverse social groups be the seed to promoting greater peace and reconciliation across the island of Ireland?
Helping Kids! is an international lab, collecting data in five different countries (Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Republic of North Macedonia and Israel), exploring children’s intergroup empathy and prosocial behaviours framed by the Developmental Peacebuilding Model.
Join researchers at the Helping Kids! lab as they discuss how uncovering the developmental, individual, family, and contextual factors related to children’s empathy and helping behaviours could help to future-proof peace.
This episode will also feature interviews with Sara Singleton from the Dublin-based Think-Tank for Action on Social Change (TASC), and Lynn Johnston from the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE), both of whom will explore the potential societal impact of Helping Kids! research.
In this episode, researchers at the Helping Kids! Lab and members of our Local Advisory Committee (LAC) will discuss:
Introduction to the Helping Kids! Lab [00:07].
Bethany Corbett– How can we increase host-children’s empathy towards refugees? How does children’s awareness of symbols and labels influence their helping behaviour in divided societies? [03:24].
Dearbháile Counihan- Children’s awareness of the Traveller community in Ireland- can children recognise cultural symbols when physical differences are not present? [10:25].
Laura K. Taylor- Promoting children’s inclusive peacebuilding in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland- how studying children’s early helping behaviours across group lines could be the seed to building a society that respects all identities and traditions across the island [15:08].
Isabelle Nic Craith- What does collecting data for Helping Kids! studies entail, and how can playing interactive games with kids have implications for a more harmonious society? [18:54].
Dean Polly– Day-to-day experience of working as a Helping Kids! Data Collection Assistant [21:50].
Lynn Johnston- The importance of integrated education for promoting peace and reconciliation across Northern Ireland, and the potential value of Helping Kids! research and tools for supporting the goals of NICIE [23:26].
Sara Singleton- How TASC works to transform research into action to promote greater reconciliation across the island of Ireland, and the societal impact of Helping Kids! for harnessing youth’s potential for future peacebuilding [31:07].
Taylor, L. K., & Glen, C. (2020). From empathy to action: Can enhancing host-society children’s empathy promote positive attitudes and prosocial behavior towards refugees?Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 30(2), 214-226.
Taylor, L.K., Dautel, J., & Rylander, R. (2020). Symbols and labels: Children’s awareness of social categories in a divided society. Journal of Community Psychology,48(5), 1512-1526.
Counihan, D., Carol, S., & Taylor, L. K. (2022). Children’s awareness of ethnic outgroup symbols: Piloting an instrument in the Republic of Ireland. International Journal of Psychology. Advance online publication.
Moran, D., & Taylor, L. K. (2021). Outgroup prosocial behaviour among children and adolescents in conflict settings. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 69-73.
Taylor, L.K. (2020). The Developmental Peacebuilding Model (DPM) of children’s prosocial behaviors in settings of intergroup conflict. Child Development Perspectives, 14(3), 127-134.
Taylor, L. K., Tomašić Humer, J., & Dautel, J. B. (2022). Predictors of outgroup empathy among children in a conflict-affected society. Children and Society, 36, 949– 967.
Shamoa-Nir, L., Razpurker-Apfeld, I., Dautel, J.B., & Taylor, L.K. (2020). Outgroup prosocial giving during childhood: The role of ingroup preference and outgroup attitudes in a divided society. International Journal of Behavioral Development,45(4), 337–344.
Taylor, L.K., Dautel, J., Maloku, E., & Tomovska Misoska, A. (2021). Children’s outgroup prosocial giving in settings of intergroup conflict: The developmental role of ingroup symbol preference. Developmental Psychology, 57(8), 1350–1358.
Tomovska Misoska, A., Taylor, L.K., Dautel, J.,& Rylander, R. (2020). Children’s understanding of ethnic group symbols: Piloting an instrument in the Republic of North Macedonia. Peace & Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 26(1), 82-87.
Lennon Malbasha, L., Dautel, J., & Taylor, L.K. (in press). Exploring children’s knowledge of Irish and European Symbols: A comparison of Gaelscoil and English-speaking primary school children. Irish Educational Studies.
Taylor, L.K., O’Driscoll, D., Dautel, J., & McKeown, S. (2020). Empathy to action: Child and adolescent outgroup attitudes and prosocial behaviors in a setting of intergroup conflict. Social Development, 29(2), 461-477.
Funders
The Irish Research Council “New Foundations Award” in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs (Reconciliation Fund). https://research.ie/
Children as young as five years old in Northern Ireland are already aware of the symbols that mark out the region’s two political and cultural communities, according to new academic research.
Conducted by researchers Dr Laura K Taylor, Dr Jocelyn Dautel and Risa Rylander from University College, Dublin and Queen’s University, Belfast, the research looked at how more than 200 children reacted when asked to label a range of symbols.
Participants were given an iPad and asked to label symbols as being either Irish/British or Catholic/Protestant.
Among the symbols were images of flags, such as the Union flag and the Irish Tricolour, shamrock, and poppies, as well as items used in cricket, hurling and rugby.
The researchers found that the children – who were between five and 11 years old – were more likely to sort symbols by tradition than they would have if their decisions had been made randomly.
The UCD/QUB research paper, called ‘Symbols and Labels: children’s awareness of social categories in a divided society’, is published in the Journal of Community Psychology.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last night, lead researcher Dr Laura K Taylor said: “How and when children develop an understanding of group boundaries has implications for conflict resolution.”
She hoped the research would inform education policy and teaching in Northern Ireland.
“Our research is trying to help understand what it means for children to grow up in a post-accord society. Children today did not grow up in a violent society, so how do they learn about it?
“These findings suggest that, by late childhood, children in Northern Ireland can readily identify and associate symbols with their hypothesised social categories.”
Separate school systems, as well as strong family networks and homogeneous lifestyles, shape children’s cultural awareness, the researchers suggest.
The UCD/QUB research echoes a 2002 study for the Community Relations Council, which found children as young as three were able to recognise symbols as being linked to either loyalist or nationalist cultures.
That earlier study – carried out by the University of Ulster – found that by the age of six, 69% of the more than three hundred children surveyed could identify flags and parades as belonging to one ‘side’ or the other.
Reporter, S. (2020, March 23). Five year olds ‘know symbols associated with Northern Ireland traditions’. Published in the Belfast Telegraph.
Taylor, L.K., Dautel, J., & *Rylander, R. (2020). Symbols and labels: Children’s awareness of social categories in a divided society. Journal of Community Psychology.
*Glen, C., Taylor, L.K. & Dautel, J. (2020). Promoting prosocial behaviour toward refugees: Exploring the empathy-attitude-action model in middle childhood. In N. Bavlin & D. Christie (Eds.), Children and Peace: From Research to Action (pp. 71-87). Switzerland: Springer Peace Psychology Book Series.
Taylor, L. K., & *Glen, C. (2020). From empathy to action: Can enhancing host-society children’s empathy promote positive attitudes and prosocial behavior towards refugees? Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 30(2), 214-226.
Taylor, L.K., *O’Driscoll, D., Dautel, J., & McKeown, S. (2019). Empathy to action: Child and adolescent outgroup attitudes and prosocial behaviors in a setting of intergroup conflict. Social Development.
Tomovska Misoska, A., Taylor, L.K., Dautel, J., & *Rylander, R. (2020). Contact, conflict and interethnic attitudes among children in North Macedonia. Primenjena Psihologija, 12(4), 409-428. doi:10.19090/pp.2019.4.409-428.
Tomovska Misoska, A., Taylor, L.K., Dautel, J.,& *Rylander, R. (2019). Children’s understanding of ethnic group symbols: Piloting an instrument in the Republic of North Macedonia. Peace & Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology.
Over 420 million children live in conflict-affected areas. Conflict greatly disrupts education, with long-lasting negative effects even after peace agreements are signed. Northern Ireland (NI), Kosovo and Macedonia are settings of protracted conflict in which the primary conflict-related groups remain largely segregated, particularly across schools and neighbourhoods. As a result, the overt conflict in each setting has continued to affect children born after the peace agreements, or in the ‘post-accord generation’.
The Helping Kids! lab has conducted comparative research in primary schools in each of these settings. We study how majority and minority children in separate education systems develop an understanding about conflict-related groups. We argue that sharing across group lines can be considered an antecedent of later peacebuilding potential in children.
All three settings have education systems divided by group background (NI: Protestant/British, Catholic/Irish; Kosovo: Albanian, Serbian; Macedonia: Macedonian, Albanian). Our trained experimenters visited primary schools and played child-friendly games on a laptop or tablet. These games asked children about their recognition of and preference for images, symbols and names associated with each background in that context. Additionally, the games measured participants’ contact with, attitudes about, and sharing with outgroup children.
Social identity development theory (SIDT), which acted as a framework for this research, centres on children’s ethnic identity development having four (potential) phases: undifferentiated, ethnic awareness, ethnic preferences and ethnic prejudice; the shift between these phases is informed by social context. Across the three settings, our findings supported these phases. In each setting, participants were evenly split by gender and background (NI: 529 pupils; 263 male, 266 female; ages 5–11 [M=7.8, SD=1.76; 46.4% Protestant, 53.6% Catholic]; Kosovo: 219 pupils; 108 male, 111 female; ages 6–10 [M=8.07, SD=1.33; 54.3% Albanian, 45.7% Serbian]; Macedonia: 199 pupils; 107 male, 92 female; ages 6–11 [M=8.40, SD=1.41; 44.2% Macedonian, 55.8% Albanian]).
In each setting, children readily recognised the social cues associated with conflict-related groups. For example, in NI, children identified poppies as British and shamrocks as Irish; in Kosovo, children consistently categorised murals and pop artists as Albanian or Serbian; and in Macedonia, children distinguished celebratory foods as Macedonian or Albanian.
Overall, the more aware children were of conflict-related group markers as belonging to one group versus the other, the more children preferred ingroup symbols. That is, children with higher awareness of group symbols also expressed greater preference for ingroup images, supporting the link between ethnic awareness and preference in SIDT. Children who preferred ingroup symbols shared fewer resources (that is, stickers) with outgroup children. Children who reported more positive experiences with and attitudes about outgroup children, however, shared more resources with outgroup children.
The Helping Kids! lab will continue to identify antecedents of children’s peacebuilding in divided societies. Fostering positive outgroup attitudes and opportunities for outgroup helping may have promising, long-term implications for more constructive intergroup relations. Through discussions with families, schoolteachers and administrators, non-governmental organisations and government officials, we hope our findings can inform public policies that aid children living in conflict-affected areas around the world. As a result, our findings may help inform peacebuilding interventions in schools and communities, with the long-term aim of fostering more cohesive societies.
На која возраст децата во Македонија стануваат свесни за сликите и симболите кои ги идентификуваат како група? Како идентификацијата со својата група влијае кон социјалната оддалеченост од „другите“?
За таа цел, во 2017-18 година, преку проектот „Помагање на децата!“ (Helping Kids!) истражувавме како идентификацијата со симболите и социјалните структури на сопствената група кај децата на возраст од шест до единаесет години влијае кон нивните ставови и однесување кон „другиот“. Игравме серија на игри прилагодена за возраста со деца од училишта каде наставата се одвива на македонски и албански јазик, со вкупно 219 ученици. На пример, децата беа запрашани дали серија од 16 парови на слики, или вкупно 32, ги поврзуваат со Албанци или Македонци. Одбравме слики од различни аспекти на социјалниот живот, како религија, култура, храна, политика, спорт и животот во нивните средини.
Главно, децата беа спремни да ги категоризираат сите 32 слики со една од двете групи, и тоа повеќе од само како случајност. На пример, слика од македонското знаме го асоцираа со македонската етничка група. Но, детектиравме и разлики според возраста.
На возраст од шест години, децата можат да категоризираат девет од сликите (плоштадот на Скендербег, македонското знаме, албанското знаме, македонската азбука, имам/оџа, дресот на Ренова, симболот на поддржувачите на Балистите и улица напишана на албански јазик) како македонски или албански симболи. На возраст од седум години, децата можат да категоризираат 16 од сликите и симболите со некоја етничка група додека до десетгодишна возраст сите 32 слики. Односно, како созреваат, децата подобро ги асоцираа сликите со соодветната социјална група. Резултатите укажуваат дека овие сознанија се зголемуваат со возраста, како што поминуваат повеќе време во јазично поделени паралелки и средини.
Овие сознанија кои се базирани на групните разлики влијаат и врз нивното чувство за заедништво со „другите“. Колку повеќе децата се свесни за симболите и сликите на групите кои некогаш биле во конфликт, толку повеќе ги преферираат симболите на својата група. Децата кои се посвесни за симболите на својата група, почесто и преферираат слики кои се асоцираат со нивната етничка група. Децата кои повеќе споделуваат ресурси (на пример, стикери како награда) со својата група исто така помалку им се допаѓаат и помалку им веруваат на лица со друго етничко потекло. Исто така, споделувањето на повеќе ресурси со својата група е поврзано со помала желба да се игра со деца со друго етничко потекло и помалку пријателства.
Сепак, светлата страна е дека претходните позитивни искуства со „другите“ можат да се спротивстават на овие сегрегирачки тенденции. Колку повеќе време децата поминуваат заедно со „другите“ толку е помала перцепцијата за социјална дистанца помеѓу нив односно повеќе им се допаѓаат, им веруваат и сакаат да ги играат со „другите“. Исто така, колку повеќе другари со различно етничко потекло имаат, толку е помала перцепцијата за социјална дистанца помеѓу нив. На пример, еден татко (Албанец) чија ќерка оди во училиште каде наставата се одвива на македонски и албански јазик ни кажа: „Јас сум многу среќен што мојата ќерка ми кажува дека има многу пријатели кои се Македонци. Ова е многу позитивна вест за мене и овие пријателства ги воспостави во школо.“
Проектите кои изминатите години се спроведуваа со цел за меѓуетничка интеграција во образованието беа насочени кон создавање на краткотрајни и долготрајни можности за контакт помеѓу децата и наставниот и стручен кадар во претходно испланирани активности. Според експертите, нивните најголеми резултати се опфатот на ученици, училишта и наставен и стручен кадар и малите, но значајни промени во политиките (на национални и локално ниво) додека најголеми недостатоци се зависноста од странски донатори и отсуството на позитивен role-модел на возрасни во плодоносна и спонтана меѓуетничка соработка (ад-хок и недостатокот од трансфер од професионална соработка во пријателства).
Препораките за политиките од ова истражување укажуваат дека градењето на долготраен мир треба да почне од рана возраст. Децата мора да имаат можност да стапуваат во интеракција и да создаваат пријателства со оние од другите етнички групи. Повеќе можности за позитивен контакт помеѓу групите се неопходни. И овие можности за контакт треба да се базираат на претпоставките за еднаквост помеѓу групите и поттикнување на активности кои се интересни и иновативни за децата, и кои се базираат на заедничкото добро. „Кога децата се во меѓусебен контакт, тие секогаш покажуваат љубопитност и обично резултатите се позитивни“ “– ни укажа професорка во основно школо (жена, Албанка). „Краткотрајни и долготрајни активности кои се приентирани кон продукти, во рамки на редовната настава и во рамките на екстра-курикулум активностите, партнерства помеѓу училиштата и наставниот кадар од различни региони и наставни јазици се неопходност во поддршка на интеретничката интеграција во образование“ – наведува практичарка во проекти за интеретничка интеграција (жена, Македонка).
Дотолку повеќе што политиките за меѓуетничка интеграција треба да се прошират и надвор од училиштата, кон местата на живеење, возрасните. „Најтешко достапна група ни се родителите и потребни се повеќе напори за да се вклучат во целни активности во училиштата и заедницата“ – посочува практичарка од областа на мултиетничка интеграција во образованието (жена, Ромка).
Разбирањето на овие ефекти може да им помогне на проектите за помирување и градење на мир кои се базирани на соодветни истражувања кои помагаат во разбирање на основите на односите помеѓу групите.
Развивањето и зајакнувањето на попозитивни ставови за другите групи и можности за помагање помеѓу групите може да има ветувачки, долготрајни импликации за градење на поконструктивни односите помеѓу групите во Македонија.
Helping Kids! 