Connolly, P., Muldoon, O. and Kehoe, S.. (2007) The Attitudes and Experiences of Children Born in 1997 in Northern Ireland. Belfast: BBC Northern Ireland.

Introduction

This survey was commissioned by BBC Northern Ireland to explore the attitudes and experiences of children who were born during the year that the second IRA ceasefire was announced. At the time of the survey, these children were turning 10 years of age and therefore provide a valuable insight into how children in Northern Ireland are faring growing up in relative peace.

Children’s lives and experiences

The survey found that the segregation experienced by children in Northern Ireland extends far beyond simply living in different residential areas and attending different schools. A clear tendency was also found for Catholic and Protestant children to be divided in relation to their access to and experiences of a range of social, cultural and political activities as well. For example, the survey found that Protestant and Catholic children tend to: visit different places locally; go on holiday to different destinations; play different sports; and be exposed at home to different newspapers.

Children’s identities

One of the effects of this tendency to live separate lives is the fact that a significant proportion of children by the age of 9 and 10 have already developed a clear sense of national identity. The survey found that Catholic children were much more likely to regard themselves as Irish and Protestant children as British. An interesting finding emerged within this, however, with a majority of Catholic and Protestant children also tending to subscribe to the common identity as Northern Irish.

Children’s attitudes

There are two main effects that can arise from living in a segregated society on people’s attitudes and both of these were found among the children in the survey. The first, and more common effect, was for the children to demonstrate a relatively strong attachment to their own community (known as ‘in-group preference’). This was shown, for example, by the children preferring to choose friends from their own community background as well as wanting to engage in sports and cultural activities associated with their own community.

The other key effect that can arise from living in a segregated society is the development of stereotypes and prejudices towards those from the other community (known as ‘out-group prejudices’). For the children in this surve, while there was evidence that the children were developing such prejudices these were not wide spread and also tended to be inconsistent.

As previous research has shown, the development of these two sets of attitudes – in-group preferences and out-group prejudices – are not necessarily related. In relation to the children in this survey, while both sets of attitudes were found to exist it would appear that in-group preferences were more strongly developed among the children than out-group prejudices.

The effects of gender and social class background on children’s attitudes

In relation to both in-group preferences and out-group prejudices, these were found to be much more prevalent among boys than girls. In fact while there was some evidence of girls expressing in-group preferences, no explicit evidence was found of girls overall expressing out-group prejudices.

In relation to the socio-economic background of the children, this was also found to have very little influence on either the children’s attitudes. On the whole, children from more economically deprived areas were therefore no more likely to express in-group preferences or out-group prejudices than those from more affluent backgrounds.

Download the full report (784 KB)

Visit the BBC State of Minds Website

Back to publications list