Growing up in the aftermath of armed conflict puts youth at a higher risk for psychopathology-particularly in societies like Northern Ireland which continue to be characterized by intergroup tension and cyclical violence. This risk may be heightened during adolescence, when youth are beginning to explore their identities and are becoming more aware of intergroup dynamics in both their immediate communities and the broader society. It is also during this stage when youth increasingly witness or engage in antisocial behavior and sectarian activities. A series of studies in Belfast conducted by Cummings et al. (2014, Child Dev Perspect, 12(1), 16-38; 2019, J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol, 48(2), 296-305) showed that adolescents' exposure to sectarian violence resulted in heightened emotional insecurity about the community and subsequent adjustment problems. Though the impact of direct exposure to violence is well documented, few studies have accounted for the influence of sectarianism that occurs outside of one's immediate environment. These influences may include the general climate surrounding events that are not experienced firsthand but are nonetheless salient, such as the overarching levels of tension between groups or societal discourse that is threatening to one's identity. These higher-level influences, often referred to collectively as the macrosystem, are a necessary component to consider for adequately assessing one's socio-developmental environment. Yet,

It is generally accepted that education has a significant role to play in any society transitioning from conflict to a more peaceful dispensation. Indeed, some have argued that the education system potentially represents the single most effective agent of social change with the capacity to bridge ethnic division in conflict affected countries. Despite the potential, educational policy makers grapple with the dilemma as to precisely how school systems can best facilitate this agenda. This paper thus attempts to shed light upon the dilemma by exploring pupil identity and associated intergroup attitudes across various school types in Northern Ireland. Five schools were selected for the study with each one representing a particular sector within the Northern Irish education system (maintained grammar, maintained secondary, controlled grammar, controlled secondary, integrated). This led to a total sample size of 265 pupils. The main findings show that children across separate Catholic, separate Protestant, and mixed Catholic and Protestant educational contexts construct and interpret identity differently. At the same time, our data suggests that no one school setting has supremacy in promoting social cohesion. The implications of these findings are discussed.

is a PhD student in developmental psychology and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame. Her research interests focus on the impact of political and community violence on youth development through the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Department of Psychology.LAURA K. TAYLOR holds a PhD. She is an assistant professor at the Centre for Identity and Intergroup Relations in the School of Behavioural Sciences at Queen's University Belfast. Her research focuses on risk and resilience processes for youth, families, and communities affected by political conflict. She has previously published with Journal of Peace Research and Political Psychology, among others.ANDREA FUREY received a PhD in social psychology and investigated both social identity and prejudice in Northern Ireland in 2006. She then began a lectureship at the University of Ulster from 2006 until present. Her research focus has primarily been on the conflict and social division in Northern Irish society. Her current focus of research is in exploring identity issues in situations of protracted conflict. She is involved in research looking at identity in different school settings in both Northern Ireland and Macedonia. She is also interested in the identity dynamics inherent in mixed marriages and segregated living, both in Northern Ireland and other societies with a history of conflict. CHRISTINE E. MERRILEES holds a PhD in developmental psychology. She is an assistant professor in the Psychology Department at SUNY Geneseo. She is also a former assistant research professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Notre Dame. Her research combines developmental and social psychology, and she uses advanced longitudinal methods to examine identity and family processes for youth living in divided societies.MARCIE C. GOEKE-MOREY holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame. She is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at The Catholic University of America. Rooted in a developmental psychopathology framework, her research interests focus on family relationships and the processes underlying children's social and emotional development within the context of family, community, and culture. She is particularly interested in the positive aspects of family relationships and the role of religiosity and mindfulness in family and child development.PETER SHIRLOW is the Director and Blair Chair at the University of Liverpool's Institute of Irish Studies. He was the Deputy Director of the Institute for Conflict Transformation and Social Justice until 31 July 2015. He is the Independent Chair of the OFMDFM Employers' Guidance on Recruiting People with Conflict-Related Convictions Working Group and a board member of the mental health charity Threshold. He has published more than 80 pieces of work on these issues and has served/is serving on the editorial boards of Capital and Class, Irish Political Studies and International Planning Studies. In 2011 his coauthored book Abandoning Historical Conflict? won the PSAI Brian Farel...

Without carefully planned, sustained resourcing of children and young people, post-conflict Northern Ireland (NI) may fail to flourish. In May, 2016, MI5 (the UK domestic security agency) increased the security threat level from moderate to substantial for NI related terrorism. For over two years we have been partnership building in post-conflict NI to produce a plan for developing an evidence-based integrative complexity resource for NI secondary schools. Integrative complexity interventions have been shown effective at increasing capacities in a range of contexts, on different conflicts and extremisms, with diverse population samples (evaluated using the cross-culturally validated integrative complexity measurement frame). Based on over forty years of research,[1] integrative complexity measures assess how we think about our social world, from rapid, inflexible, closed thinking toward more deliberate, flexible, open thinking about our own and opposed groups. The latter predicts more peaceful outcomes to conflict. This research plan has the most rigorous and systematic empirical design to date, to advance the theory and method of integrative complexity science in partnership with end-users for promoting capacities to live well with difference and disagreement. The findings will benefit NI and other post-conflict regions struggling to overcome legacies of violence.[1] Peter Suedfeld and Philip E. Tetlock, "Integrative complexity at forty: Steps toward resolving the scoring dilemma," Political Psychology 35 (2014): 597-601.

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