Brazilian children's conceptions of peace, war, and violence.

Abstract

This study investigates the understanding of peace, war, and violence of children in southern Brazil. Sixty-one younger children (30 boys and 31 girls; M age 7.6; SD = .82) and 63 older children (29 boys and 34 girls; M age 12.7; SD = .72) responded to an interview about either peace and violence or war and violence. The two interviews were equally distributed among participants according to age and sex. Data were examined for age and gender differences through content analysis and chi-square tests. In their responses, younger children accentuated concrete aspects of violence, such as weapons, while older children emphasized humane attitudes. Older boys highlighted conflicting interests; older girls emphasized a sense of human well-being. Results of this study are compared to those of similar international studies and the implications for peace education are discussed in the context of modern Brazilian culture and global trends.Hakvoort and Oppenheimer (1998) and Oppenheimer, have offered comprehensive reviews on children's understanding of peace, war, violence, and conflict. The authors highlighted the role of cognitive development and gender in the conceptualization of peace, war, and violence. Hakvoort (1996) observed that children form a concept of war prior to forming one of peace, and that early ideas about peace are that it is the negation of war. Oppenheimer et al. (1999) reported that, subsequently, friendship, absence of quarrels, and a calm en-

A study of Ugandan children’s perspectives on peace, conflict, and peace-building: A liberation psychology approach.

“…Therefore, their narratives were not merely a "reporting out" of conflictual episodes like verbal disputes and fighting, but rather stories in which the episodes of conflicts were frequently linked to the conditions they experienced daily in their lives. In many respects, the findings from our study overlapped with other studies in which children from impoverished and conflict-ridden regions presented perspectives of peace that were tied to these conditions (e.g., for reviews, see Bamidee, 2016;de Souza, Sperb, McCarthy, & Biaggio, 2006;Oppenheimer, Bar-Tal, & Raviv, 1999).…”

Children’s conceptions of peace in two Ugandan primary schools: Insights for peace curriculum

“…Set in various countries, their review of studies, as well as more recent examinations (e.g. Boyden, 2003; de Souza et al, 2006; Hakvoort and Hägglund, 2001) reveal trends in how children view these phenomena, often differing by gender, age, and extent to which they were exposed to highly dangerous and traumatizing situations, like being forced to be child soldiers or sex slaves.…”

Supporting Young Children’s Efforts toward Peacemaking: Recommendations for Early Childhood Educators

“…Findings that have emerged regarding children's general understanding of peace and war show some similarities across studies, despite children's cultural differences and differences in exposure to political violence. For example, many children understand war in terms of its concrete details-the objects and activities of war (e.g., military weapons and fighting or killing) and peace as the absence of war or violence (Hakvoort and Oppenheimer 1993;Hakvoort and Hagglund 2001;McLernon and Cairns 2001;Myers-Bowman et al 2005;Oppenheimer and Kuipers 2003;Souza et al 2006;Walker et al 2003) or as the presence of prosocial behaviors such as being nice or sharing (Covell et al 1994;Hakvoort and Hagglund 2001;Myers-Bowman et al 2005;Walker et al 2003).…”

“…and ''If you were boss of the world, what would you do to make peace?'' According to Hakvoort, the children approached the two questions Australia, 3-6 years, war only Rodd (1985) Australia, 4-16 years, war and peace Hall (1993) Brazil, 7-12 years, war and peace Souza et al (2006) Canada, 7-18 years, war and peace Covell et al (1994) Croatia, 3-6 years, war only Miljevic-Ridjicki and Lugomer-Armano (1994) England and Northern Ireland, 6-7 years, war and peace McLernon and Cairns (2001) The Philippines, 10 year olds, war and peace Oppenheimer and Kuipers (2003).…”