Impact of Political Violence on Images of War and Peace in the Drawings of Primary School Children

In: Peace and conflict: journal of peace psychology ; the journal of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence, Peace Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association, Band 7, Heft 1, S. 45-57

Abstract

Protestant primary school children (N = 181) from 3 schools representing areas in Northern Ireland with high & low political & sectarian violence, & 1 area in England with no political & sectarian violence, were asked to draw pictures of peace & war. Three hypotheses were explored: (1) Northern Irish children to a greater extent than English children would emphasize the concept of peace as the absence of war; (2) children from the high-violence area of Northern Ireland would be more likely to emphasize the concrete aspects of war such as weapons, soldiers, & war activities; & (3) boys would demonstrate greater knowledge of war than would girls. Hiloglinear analyses of the images in the drawings confirmed the first & third hypotheses. 3 Tables, 33 References. Adapted from the source document.