National Identity after a Conflict: National Identity Choice among Northern Irish Youth

Abstract

This work uses multinomial logistic regression to explore how Northern Irish youth view their national identity and the factors that shape their self-identification post-1998 Good Friday Agreement. We use the 2005-2015 Northern Ireland Young Life and Times Surveys of 16-year-olds to investigate these questions. The results indicate that intergroup contact is less influential than environmental factors on national identity. Residential and school composition has more of an effect on solidifying Irish identity than British identity (relative to that of a Northern Irish identity). Our work adds to the literature on national identity development and choice among young adults in post-conflict and post-peace-agreement environments.