Ideological commitment, experience of conflict and adjustment in Northern Irish adolescents

This study aims to assess young people's overall experience of political conflict, as well as the extent of these experiences in relation to gender, religious affiliation and residential location (high or low conflict). Second, this study assesses the impact that young people's ideological commitment and experiences of the conflict have on their self-esteem and mental health. A sample of 96 Protestant and Catholic young people (mean age 15.2), drawn from four schools in two areas of Northern Ireland, completed self-report measures of self-esteem, mental health, ideological commitment and experience of conflict. The areas differed substantially in the amount of violence they had experienced. The results indicated that young people's experience of violence varied in relation to the town in which they lived. Boys' experience of violence appeared to be related to their religious affiliation. Experience of conflict and ideological commitment, two attributes that were positively related, interacted to predict both mental health and self-esteem. The importance of ideological commitment to our understanding of the impact of political conflict on young people is discussed.