The Differential Impact on Children of Inter- and Intra-Community Violence in Northern Ireland

This study explores distinctions in Northern Ireland between inter-community (i.e., sectarian) and intra-community (i.e., nonsectarian) violence and their respective impacts on children, and considers these forms of violence in relation to children's processes of emotional security about community conflict. Preliminary work was based on focus groups with mothers in Belfast, followed by a quantitative study involving mothers in Derry-Londonderry. Support emerged for a conceptually based distinction between sectarian and nonsectarian violence and differential prediction of children's adjustment problems, which was more closely linked with sectarian than nonsectarian community violence. Pertinent to explanatory mechanisms, community violence, especially sectarian, related to mother's perceptions of children's emotional insecurity about community. Findings are discussed in terms of future directions for understanding community violence and child development in cultural context.