Background
to the Research
- Although
relations between the two main communities in Northern Ireland have
been precarious, efforts to improve them have remained a government
priority.
- Each
year, the YLT survey offers all young people who celebrate their 16th
birthday in the February of that year the opportunity to discuss a
range of contemporary social issues.
Research
Approach
- This
research update draws upon the responses to the community relations
questions provided by 902 young people who participated in the 2003
YLT survey.
Main
Findings
- Respondents
assigned themselves the following national identities: Irish (39%);
British (28%); Northern Irish (25%) and Ulster (4%).
- Respondents
perceived their national and religious identities as being important
to them.
- Respondents
were most positive about members of their own community.
- Despite
the fact that many of the young people did not make explicitly positive
comments about the other main tradition, very few articulated overtly
negative views.
- The
young person's family emerged as being the most significant influence
upon their views about community relations (47%).
- The
majority of the young people continue to live highly segregated lives.
Only 6% attended planned integrated schools and 89% attended schools
which were mostly attended by students from one tradition. Only 29%
lived in a mixed community.
- This
segregated lifestyle appears to have an impact upon the young person's
social circle, as they have fewer close friends of a different religion.
- More
respondents had experienced cross-community contact as a result of
inter-school initiatives (79%) than as a result of social events (52%).
- Respondents
provided mixed responses to questions about integrated environments.
Whilst 71% stated that they supported the idea of mixed-religious
work places, many preferred to retain segregated neighbourhoods (53%)
and schools (4852%).
- When
asked to predict how well the communities would interact in 5 years
time, 42% thought they would be about the same, 36% believed they
would improve and 15% felt they would deteriorate.
Conclusions
- This
research shows that national and religious identity plays an important
role in the lives of the young people.
- Although
many of the respondents live highly segregated lives, support emerged
for greater integration with the other community.
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