Abstract
Irish (135) and United States (123) subjects, aged from 8 to 17 years, wrote essays on their respective homelands. A content analysis revealed that American subjects, as they grow older, identify the homeland increasingly with its political ideals, while Irish subjects identify theirs with certain psychological ideals which they associate with the rural culture and landscape. Irish essays tended to be longer and more varied, and they showed a higher level of affective development. Profiles of the homeland on 7 semantic differential scales showed the break-up of a halo effect in the Irish sample. Adolescents in both countries showed a transition from concrete to abstract topics with age. The implications of these findings for research on the adolescent self-image are discussed.
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Received his Ph.D. from the Centre for Advanced Study in Theoretical Psychology at the University of Alberta. Current interests include affective development and cognitive psychology.
Received his Ph.D. in educational psychology from Boston College. Current interests include cultural and biological influences on newborn and infant development and history of childhood.
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Egan, O., Nugent, J.K. Adolescent conceptions of the homeland: A cross-cultural study. J Youth Adolescence 12, 185–201 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02090985
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02090985