Comparison of Northern Irish Children’s Attitudes to War and Peace Before and After the Paramilitary Ceasefires

This study compares the attitudes of young people in Northern Ireland to conflict and conflict resolution, before and after the 1994 ceasefire announcements. Content analysis on the responses of 117 adolescents aged 14-15 years showed differences in their attitudes to war and peace and in their strategies to attain peace. Concepts of war as static and unchanging showed a significant difference after the ceasefire. In addition, the perception of war as a struggle between national leaders before the ceasefire shifted significantly to a more general view of war in terms of war activities and their negative consequences. Perceptions of peace as “active” showed a marked swing after the ceasefire to a more abstract view of peace as freedom, justice, and liberty after the ceasefire. Before the ceasefire, adolescents were reluctant to provide strategies to attain peace, but after the ceasefire, strategies were suggested with more confidence. Results also indicated that adolescents prefer an alternative to violence in the resolution of conflict. Although the proportion of adolescents who said the country was at peace did not change significantly after the ceasefire, the percentage who expressed ambivalent feelings about the status of Northern Ireland in terms of peace increased significantly. This suggests that, at the time of this study, many young people had not fully accepted the reality of the peace process.