THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN’S IDENTIFICATION: A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON BETWEEN BULGARIA,ITALY AND UKRAINE

The study presented here analyses the development of self-categorisation,national, European and local identification of Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Italianchildren and adolescents growing up in Bulgaria, Ukraine and Italy.The sample consisted of 541 children aged 6, 9, 12 and 15 years. It was foundthat national, European and local identifications differ in the three nationalgroups. It is argued that the cognitive-developmental account of the developmentof national identification is unable to explain the patterns of findingswhich were obtained. The social identity theory, however, is able to explain thedifferent patterns of importance given to the different identifications by the threenational groups.