Background to the Research

• Each year, the YLT survey offers all young people who celebrate their 16th birthday in the February of that year the opportunity to discuss key social issues.
• The YLT survey is the young people's equivalent of the NILT survey, which monitors attitudes and beliefs held by 1800 adults over the age of 18 on a wide range of social policy issues.
  

Research Approach

• Between the years spanning 2003-2005, 2,545 young people participated in the YLT survey.
• This research update draws upon a dataset which comprises of the YLT survey 2003-2005 and the NILT survey 2002-2004.
  

Main Findings

• Over three quarters (77%) of YLT participants had engaged with pupils from other religious backgrounds; 59% of whom had participated in inter-school projects.
• Respondents who attended secondary schools were least likely to have experienced this type of interaction (72%).
• Of the 53% who indicated that they had participated in a cross-community scheme, 75% rated this experience as either positive or very positive and only 4% rated it as negative.
• Data from the YLT suggests that young people who lived in segregated Protestant (32%) or Catholic areas (42%) and those attending segregated schools were less likely than those living in mixed areas (20%) to have friends from the other main religious community.
• However, only 9% of pupils attending a mixed school had no friends from the other main tradition, compared with 31% of pupils attending mainly Protestant and 40% who attend mainly Catholic schools.
• 5% of the YLT sample attended planned integrated schools. This was shown, in addition to attendance at cross community events, to correlate with the expression of positive views about people from the other main religious tradition.
• Participants indicated that their families (45%) and friends (19%) appeared to exert the most significant influence over their views about the other main community.
• It is worth noting that only 9% of YLT respondents indicated that their school was the most influential factor, compared to 24% of pupils who attended planned integrated schools.
• Overall, pupils attending planned integrated schools were most likely to state that their schools played the biggest roles in shaping their views (27%).
• Overall, NILT and YLT participants felt the same about community relations now in comparison with five years ago.
• However, YLT respondents were more pessimistic than their NILT counterparts about improvements in community relations over the next five years.
• YLT participants who attended planned integrated schools or cross community projects also expressed a stronger desire for greater integration in the home, schools and the workplace.
• Finally, YLT respondents, who despite having access to cross community projects and not being exposed to the most turbulent periods of the conflict, were more pessimistic about the future of community relations and showed less support for inter-faith mixing than NILT respondents.
• The update concludes with the authors highlighting the positive impact that attending planned integrated schools has upon pupils' views of community relations and the other main religious community.
• They argue that policy initiatives have had a positive effect and therefore should continue to be resourced.