On the Subject of a Divided Europe: A Preliminary Survey of a Sample of UK University Students

40 men and 40 women university students responded to a questionnaire in which were assessed their attitudes towards the future of Europe as nations divided along political grounds or ethnicity. Half of the items on the questionnaire assessed the extent to which respondents consider the issue of ethnicity (e.g., language, flag, culture) as a factor important to such a division. The other half were directed to evaluating respondents' views on whether the political gains should be considered were European nations to divide. Analysis showed that respondents considered the issue of ethnicity a more motivating force for division than politics. Moreover, there were significant gender differences, with men showing significantly stronger positive views on both issues of ethnicity and politics than women.