‘It’s all about our great Queen’: The British National Anthem and national identity in 8

Abstract

National anthems are salient representations of nation states, used to define social and personal boundaries (Folkestad, 2002). Whilst children develop knowledge of national symbols such as national anthems by the age of 5 (Jahoda, 1963), little is known about how a national anthem contributes to a sense of national identity, or the affective reactions elicited by hearing it. Two exploratory studies investigated 8–10-year-old children’s (N = 92) thoughts, feelings and associations when listening to the British National Anthem, in comparison to pieces of music varying in their degree of national salience. The 10-year-old children generated more national associations to the National Anthem than younger children. More national associations were generated to the National Anthem by children with high, as opposed to low, national identity, but only for the 9- and 10-year-old children. It is argued that the National Anthem might play a role in the maintenance and validation of national identity, but that there are developmental effects operating within this relationship.

Keywords

child development children’s drawings education national identity National Anthem

National Anthems are one of the most salient and evocative of national symbols, and are an important source of national identification (Mach, 1994). The musical characteristics of a nation’s anthem embody its history and character; according to Cerulo (1989), the musical structure of national anthems asserts the status of a nation at the time it was written. Complex melodies characterize the anthems of nations with weak socio-political control; simpler melodies characterize the anthems of nations with high socio-political control. The British National Anthem (BNA), God Save the Queen, is highlighted by Cerulo as a paradigmatic example of the latter; strong socio-political control meant that ‘symbolic short hand’ (Cerulo, 1989, p. 94) was sufficient to convey the shared values of the nation.

Despite its melodic simplicity, the BNA contains two features known to induce feelings of emotion through tearfulness (e.g. ‘lump in the throat’) and shivers (e.g. ‘goose pimples,’ ‘shivers down the spine’); an appoggiatura – a ‘leaning note’ – that delays harmonic progression, and a melodic sequence where a set of notes are repeated at a higher or lower pitch (Sloboda, 1992). Additionally, the BNA is frequently associated with other emotions such as national pride that are often accompanied by feelings of intense emotion (Folkestad, 2002), for example during Olympic medal ceremonies. Through music we define social and personal boundaries (Folkestad, 2002); however, there are likely to be considerable individual differences in the extent to which a national anthem is associated with a sense of national identity between members of a population.

National identity is a multi-faceted psychological concept which influences behaviour through different cognitive and affective aspects (Barrett, 2007). The cognitive aspects include knowledge of the national group and the symbols or emblems associated with them, and categorization of the self as a member of that group. The affective aspects include the importance attributed to and attachment to the national group, along with the valence by which an individual evaluates membership to the national group (Barrett, 2007). According to some theorists, national identity is dynamic to a certain degree; cultural and situational influences can lead to fluctuations (Smith, 1991).

Early research into the development of national identity in children took a cognitive-developmental perspective, where children’s cognitive capacity determines their understanding of the concept of national identity (Piaget & Weil, 1951). Such research suggested that children develop rudimentary geographical knowledge of their own and other countries as early as 5 years old (Piaget & Weil, 1951), and around the same age develop knowledge of symbols such as the flag and national anthem (Jahoda, 1963). Categorization of the self as a member of a particular national group has also been demonstrated at the age of 5 years (Barrett, 1996; Piaget & Weil, 1951), but national identity does not become a salient dimension of personal identity until around 11 years of age (Barrett, Wilson & Lyons, 2003). Nevertheless, children show both a preference and pride towards their own national group (arguably facets of national identity) from the age of 7 (Jaspars, Van de Geer, Tajfel & Johnson, 1972). This national pride continues to strengthen throughout middle childhood (Barrett & Short, 1992), and varies between children of different nationalities (Dennis, Lindberg & McCrone, 1972).

Developing a strong sense of national identity during childhood is important as national identity exerts a strong influence over individuals, promoting attachment to their national group (Smith, 1991). An individual’s national identity is also a crucial dimension of one’s personal identity, being described by some theorists as one of the primary dimensions of personal identity:

. . . in the modern world, national identity constitutes what may be called the ‘fundamental identity’, the identity that is believed to be the very essence of the individual . . . other identities are considered secondary. (Greenfeld & Chirot, 1994, p. 79)

However, some theorists have questioned whether the British national identity is the most salient dimension of an individual’s identity; particularly for children, identifying with the city or area in which they live may be a stronger facet of their identity than their national identity (Barrett, 2005).

Research in ethnomusicology assigns importance to the role of music in creating and consolidating a sense of national identity (Chopyak, 1987). It is argued by Stokes (1994) that both the style and content of national anthems represent that nation ‘emblematically.’ This functionalist theory views national anthems as crucial in giving individuals a sense of identity, and in the promotion of social cohesion:

. . . music itself is a potent symbol of identity; like language . . ., it is one of those aspects of culture which can, when the need to assert ‘ethnic identity’ arises, most readily serve this purpose. (Baily, 1994, p. 48)

This functionalist perspective has formed the basis of endeavours to use music to create a strong sense of national identity in countries such as Afghanistan (Baily, 1994), along with attempts to promote Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ as a common anthem representing the European Union (Clark, 1997).

Given this functionalist perspective of the importance of nationally salient music in creating and maintaining a sense of national identity, empirical research has begun to explore this relationship further (Folkestad, 2002). In Israel, Gilboa and Bodner (2009) carried out an empirical investigation of the thoughts and associations elicited by a national anthem in comparison to other pieces of music. Across four categories of association (groups, events, figures and emotions), participants produced more national associations to the Israeli National Anthem than other musical extracts. The authors argue that there was a strong association between the National Anthem and the participants’ sense of nationality, which was weaker or absent for the other pieces of music.

The current studies

To date there has been no research exploring children’s thoughts and associations when listening to their national anthem. Whilst children are able to identify the national anthem as a national symbol from early childhood (Barrett, 2007), we do not know how the national anthem contributes to a sense of national identity, and the affective reactions that it elicits. In addition, no work has been carried out on perceptions of the BNA in this context. Interest in this area of investigation is timely given the prominent events of national significance in the recent past (e.g. the London Olympics and Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee), together with greater independence of countries within the United Kingdom. Indeed, children’s national identity was the key focus of a recent paper exploring attitudes, identification and sport participation in the run-up to the London Olympics (Lam & Corson, 2013).

The aim of the two exploratory studies reported here was to investigate children’s thoughts and associations when listening to the BNA in comparison to other pieces of music, using a partial replication of the procedure employed by Gilboa and Bodner (2009). The main aim of Study 1 was to explore the nature of the associations generated by children when hearing the BNA, as an exploration into the functionalist theory of the importance of nationally salient music. In Study 2, the aim was to explore the relationship between age, strength of national identity, and the generation of national associations when hearing the BNA, given that research in ethnomusicology assigns importance to nationally salient music in developing and consolidating national identity (e.g. Chopyak, 1987).

Study 1

In order to associate the national anthem with its national connotations, children first need to be able to recognize and identify it. Whilst some evidence (e.g. Jahoda, 1963) suggests that children begin to develop this skill from the age of around 6 years, there are clear developmental effects operating. Jahoda (1963) explored primary-school children’s ability to recognize and name the BNA. Up to 46% of 6–7-year-olds and up to 96% of 8–9-year-olds correctly identified the National Anthem upon hearing it. All children aged between 10 and 11 were able to do so.

There is currently no formal programme of education in the UK incorporating the singing of the National Anthem. Children may experience the BNA at school, but are also likely to hear it through extra-curricular activities such as Girl Guiding or Army Cadets. Thus, assessing children’s understanding of ‘nationality’ is a complex endeavour. It is possible to interview children about their understanding of their country, and test their identification of important national emblems such as the national anthem and the flag. It is also possible to measure the strength of children’s identification with their nation, using scales established for this purpose (e.g. Barrett, 2007). It is somewhat harder to assess children’s internal representations of their nationality. In this study, we follow Hague (2001) who argues that ‘drawings about a nation are a constructive method for both assessing what children know about a nation and generating questions for further research’ (p. 77). Through the analysis of children’s drawings ‘about Scotland,’ Hague demonstrated that, since many aspects of one’s conceptualization of a nation are represented as images (Billig, 1995), drawings were an effective method for surfacing children’s emblematic representations of nations.

As an initial exploration of children’s responses to the BNA, and to ensure that Gilboa and Bodner’s procedure would be appropriate for use with children, the first study was designed to answer two questions. First, given that Jahoda’s research is 50 years old, in today’s British schoolchildren, what proportion of children can we expect to identify the BNA? Second, do children generate national associations when hearing the BNA? If so, what is the nature of these national associations?

Method

Participants

Thirty British¹ children (17 girls) between the ages of 9 and 10 years (mean age 9.67; SD = .08) from a primary school in Dorset, UK, participated in this study. Children of this age group were selected as, during the period of middle childhood, national identity is likely to be forming as a stable and salient part of a child’s self-concept (Barrett et al., 2003). Consent for participation was provided by the school’s head teacher because the task was administered by a class teacher as part of a normal music lesson.

Design and materials

Children listened to a recording of the BNA which was looped for a period of 5 minutes. Children’s knowledge of the BNA and their thoughts and feelings when listening to it were collected using a music worksheet. The worksheet asked the child to tick a box to indicate if they could identify the piece of music they were listening to, and to write the name of the piece if they could. Next, the worksheet asked the child to indicate how the piece of music made them feel, using a scale of five faces from very sad to very happy, and to write why the music made them feel that way. Children were then asked to write down what they liked and disliked about the music, three things that the piece of music made them think of, and to draw a picture to represent what they thought of when they heard the music. Children’s drawings were selected as a further source of data because they support children in conveying their perspectives without requiring strong literacy skills, and because, as a child-centred research method, the process is enjoyable for children (Merriman & Guerin, 2006).

Procedure

The study was carried out under the guidance of the class teacher during the weekly music lesson.² Children were told that they would hear a piece of music and that they had a worksheet to complete as they did so. The importance of individual responses was emphasized; children were instructed to complete the task in silence. Children were allowed to move onto the next question when they were ready and were allowed to use colour to complete their picture. Children were given the opportunity to ask questions before the task began and it was emphasized that there were no right or wrong answers but that this was a task designed to get them to think about the things that come to mind when they hear a piece of music. Carrying out the task within a typical music lesson ensured that children were comfortable within their environment and minimized any demand effects.

Results and discussion

Children’s knowledge of the National Anthem

Of primary interest was whether children of this age group are familiar with the BNA and can identify it. In total, 23 children (77%) reported that they knew the piece of music, whilst 18 (60%) also named it correctly (according to the criteria employed by Jahoda (1963); responses aligned with ‘The National Anthem’ or ‘God Save the Queen’ were coded as correct). Other responses (such as ‘the football song’ or ‘World Cup song’; n = 3) were coded as incorrect. Nine children did not provide a name for the piece of music.

Children’s feelings when listening to the National Anthem

Only one child reported feeling sad when listening to the music; the majority of children (n = 19) reported feeling either a bit happy or very happy. However, quite a high number of children (n = 10) reported feeling neither happy nor sad. Children’s appraisal of why the music made them feel as it did fell under three themes (three children did not provide a response). Some children (n = 8) explained their feelings using specific emotions that were elicited (e.g. ‘because it makes me feel joyful’). Other children (n = 11) made reference to the musical characteristics of the piece when explaining their feelings (e.g. ‘because it’s lots of people singing’). Finally, some children (n = 8) explained the way the music made them feel in terms of national pride (e.g. ‘because people love our queen’; ‘because it’s my country’s anthem’). Only two themes emerged from analysis of children’s accounts of what they liked about the music. Again, reference was made to musical characteristics (e.g. ‘loud instruments’) and also to feelings of national pride (e.g. ‘It’s all about our great Queen and I can sing along’; ‘it makes me feel loyal to the country’). Of the 30 children, 12 made reference to national representations when describing how the music made them feel and in explaining what they liked about the music.

Children’s generation of national associations

The worksheet contained three spaces in which children could write what came to mind when listening to the music. These associations were coded as ‘national’ if they made reference to people, places, feelings or events of national salience. Five children made no national associations; five children made one national association; nine children made two national associations; and 11 children made three national associations. Thus, children appear capable of generating national associations when listening to the BNA. National associations included ‘The royal palace;’ ‘The Queen’s soldiers marching;’ ‘Our lovely Queen;’ ‘The Coronation.’

Children’s drawings

Children’s drawings (see Figure 1 for examples) were coded on content only, and not interpreted in any projective way (Merriman & Guerin, 2006). Initial coding of drawings showed there to be five clear categories of the content of drawings; the addition of an ‘other’ category allowed all drawings to be clearly coded.

Figure 1.

Example drawings.

The number of instances of each code in children’s drawings is shown in Table 1. Some drawings contained more than one element; hence, the data were not suitable for chi-square analysis and the total number of codes shown in Table 1 exceeds the total number of participants.

Table 1.

Coding scheme for children’s drawings.

Code category	Code type	Description	Frequency of elements in drawings
Royal	National	Children drew royal figures or entities associated with royalty (e.g. Buckingham Palace; a crown)	9
Sport	National	Children drew the National football team	13
Military	National	Children drew soldiers, military vehicles, or flags	5
Religious ceremonies	Non-national	Children drew images associated with church services or funeral ceremonies	3
Music	Non-national	Children drew musicians or instruments	2
Other	Non-national	Children drew other items; for example nature scenes, rainbows	3

This study examined whether children could identify the BNA and whether the associations they generated when hearing it were national in nature. It is perhaps surprising that only 60% of these children, aged between 9 and 10, were able to correctly name the BNA. It appears that the identification of the BNA by the children in the present study is inferior to children of a similar age tested by Jahoda in 1963. This resonates with findings from recent studies; in Canada, Kennedy and Guerrini (2012) reported ‘disappointing’ findings where only 54% of secondary school children could correctly sing the melody of their National Anthem. Work in Britain, also carried out in the run-up to the London Olympics, reports that British national identity is not as salient to children as other dimensions of their identity, such as their ethnicity (Lam and Corson, 2013). It is important to note that our findings might be specific to children from the geographical region studied; national identity in those living in London is typically higher than those in other areas of the South East of England (Barrett, 2002). Nevertheless, our findings indicate that when accounting for their feelings when listening to the BNA, the majority of children made clear national associations. In addition, 20 out of the 30 children generated at least two out of a maximum of three national associations when listening to the music and the majority of children’s drawings had content with some national connotations, whether this was royal figures, a national sports team, or the nation’s military. Having established that methods used in previous studies with adult participants are appropriate for use with children, Study 2 represents a more systematic exploration of children’s feelings and associations when listening to the BNA.

Study 2

Whilst 8–10-year-old children appear capable of generating national associations when listening to the BNA, it is not clear to what extent this is facilitated by the genre of the music and its stylistic features, rather than the connotations of the BNA itself. For this reason, Study 2 explored children’s associations to the BNA as well as other pieces of music of similar style and genre, varying in their degree of national salience. In Gilboa and Bodner’s (2009) studies with Israeli participants, comparisons were made between national associations generated to four different musical extracts. As well as the Israeli National Anthem, participants were presented with the Polish National Anthem for comparison. In addition, participants generated associations to a Russian song, and a popular Israeli song with national connotations (described as a ‘quasi-national anthem’).

Across all categories of association (groups, events, figures and emotions), 81% of participants made national associations to the Israeli National Anthem. In comparison, only 22% of participants made national associations to the Polish National Anthem, and 32% of participants made national associations to the Russian Song. The popular Israeli song with national connotations elicited national associations in 51% of participants. Israeli-born participants made more national associations than immigrants, and adults made more national associations than adolescents. The authors argue that immigrants may have a double national identity, and therefore identify less strongly with the Israeli anthem, and that adolescents identify less strongly with the traditional national symbols than do adults.

Gilboa and Bodner’s study was important in being the first to empirically examine the role of a country’s national anthem in eliciting national associations, finding that the number and type of associations elicited differed across participant groups. However, whilst it is possible to infer that those participants with stronger Israeli identity generated more national associations to the National Anthem, Gilboa and Bodner did not take any measure of national identity. In Study 2, we incorporated a measure of national identity in order to explore this possibility. In addition, Gilboa and Bodner’s data were restricted to a dichotomous level; whether participants did or did not make national associations. We chose to record the number of national associations generated. This was seen as a more appropriate dependent measure when exploring individual differences in the generation of national associations as a function of the strength of national identity, particularly because the findings from Study 1 had demonstrated that children were certainly not at ceiling level in their generation of national associations. It was expected that children would generate more national associations to the BNA in comparison to other pieces of music, and that the number of national associations generated would increase with age. In addition, the relationship between these associations and the strength of national identity, as measured using the Strength of Identification Scale (SoIS; Barrett, 2007), was explored. It was expected that a higher SoIS score would be associated with the generation of more national associations when listening to the BNA.

Method

Participants

A total of 62 British children (30 male, 32 female) between the ages of 8 and 10 years of age from a primary school in Sussex, UK, participated in this study. There were 18 children aged 8 years, 26 children aged 9, and 18 children aged 10 years. A child’s inclusion in the study sample was dependent upon informed consent from their parent/carer. None of the children had participated in Study 1.

Design

The study adopted a 3 (age group: 8-year-olds, 9-year-olds, 10-year-olds) × 2 (strength of national identity: high, low) × 3 (musical extract: BNA; Jerusalem; Trumpet Voluntary) mixed design, with musical extract as the repeated measure. The key dependent measure of interest was the number of national associations generated.

Materials

Gilboa and Bodner’s (2009) participants were asked to write their associations on a free-association form. For the present study, a child-friendly ‘music worksheet’ was developed from that used in Study 1. The worksheet first asked children to write down their feelings when listening to each piece of music, then asked children to report what came to mind when they listened to the music, under three headings (places, people, and events). Children were also asked to report what they liked and disliked about the music. These questions encouraged children to explore the thoughts and feelings elicited by the music they listened to.

Musical excerpts were chosen to be broadly analogous to those used by Gilboa and Bodner (2009; see Table 2 for details), who also presented participants with pieces of music that varied in their degree of Israeli national salience. All excerpts represented the classical musical genre.

Table 2.

Characteristics of the musical excerpts presented.

Excerpt	Composer (year of composition)	Tempo (crotchets per minute)	Key signature	Ensemble	Length of extract (minutes:seconds)¹	Salience
The National Anthem (‘God Save the Queen’)	Traditional (c. 1744)	72	G major	Orchestra with choir	00:54	High in national salience
Jerusalem	Sir Hubert Parry (1916)	58	D major	Orchestra with choir	02:36	Several national connotations
The Prince of Denmark’s March (Trumpet Voluntary)	Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1699)	84	C major	Orchestra	02:33	Few national connotations

Each extract was looped continuously for a period of 5 minutes to equate the length of each extract.

National identity was assessed using the Strength of Identification Scale (SoIS; Barrett, 2007). The SoIS is a short instrument designed specifically for children, with versions appropriate for younger and older children. The version employed in the present study was that designed for 5–11-year-old children, which consists of five questions: 1) the degree, and 2) the importance of national identification; 3) the pride, and 4) the feelings associated with national identification; and 5) the internalization of national identity. The target identity for the purpose of this study was British. For each question (e.g. ‘How proud are you of being British’), response options (e.g. very proud, quite proud, a little bit proud, not at all proud) were represented by a set of smiley faces to which children could point to indicate their response. The SoIS has good internal consistency as reported by Barrett (2007), with values of Cronbach’s alpha ranging from .66 to .91.

Procedure

Children took part in the study in small groups, but the task was completed individually and in silence. Children listened to the three musical excerpts in turn, presented in a counterbalanced order across groups, and completed the music worksheet followed by the SoIS. It was explained that there were no right or wrong answers.

Results and discussion

Children’s free associations under the three categories of people, events and places were coded as national associations (e.g. ‘The Queen’), personal non- national associations (e.g. ‘My Nan’), non-national associations (e.g. ‘A castle’) or other (anything that did not fit in any of the above categories). A subsample of 20% of the worksheets (randomly selected but ensuring sampling from across the age groups) was subjected to inter-rater reliability analysis. Agreement ranged from 70% to 100%, with an average agreement of 89.61%. (Cohen’s Kappa: .54–1.00; average = .82). This represents ‘almost perfect agreement’ according to Viera and Garrett (2005). Disagreement rarely related to national associations, and instead was related to whether a particular response was non-national or personal non-national.

Emotions

Children’s responses to the question ‘How does this piece of music make you feel?’ revealed that the BNA elicited the most positive emotions (e.g. ‘happy,’ ‘joyful;’ 72.1% of all children reported a positive emotion) followed by the Trumpet Voluntary (69.8% of all children) with Jerusalem eliciting the least positive emotions from participants (53.5% of all children). Chi-square analyses revealed no differences between age groups in terms of the number of children reporting positive emotions, for any of the musical extracts (all ps > .05). Positive emotions elicited when listening to the BNA were further classified as either national (those that reported a feeling of pride or patriotism) or non-national in nature. A total of 26 participants reported a positive national emotion or national reason for eliciting that emotion. Thirteen children reported feeling proud or honoured when listening to the national anthem. Examples of pride responses include, ‘It made me feel honoured and proud’ and ‘It makes me feel honoured because [the music] is honouring the queen.’

National associations

The free associations generated under the three categories of people, places and events were collapsed to give a total number of national, non-national and personal non-national associations generated when listening to the excerpts.³ For the sake of brevity, analyses here focus on national associations only.

Figure 2 shows the mean number of national associations generated for each piece of music within each age group. These data were analysed using a 3 (age group: 8, 9, 10) × 3 (musical extract: BNA; Trumpet Voluntary; Jerusalem) mixed ANOVA with musical extract as the repeated measure. The main effect of age group was non-significant, F(2, 59) = .56, p = .57, but there was a marginally significant effect of musical extract, F(2, 118) = 3.18, p = .05, η²_p = .05. It is interesting to note that Jerusalem did not elicit more national associations than Trumpet Voluntary, despite being higher in national salience. There are two possible reasons for this finding. First, it is possible that the children were not particularly familiar with the national connotations of Jerusalem, and as a result, did not generate national associations when hearing it. Second, the similar level of national association between Jerusalem and the Trumpet Voluntary might be a result of unexpected national connotations associated with the latter. It is possible that the style of the Trumpet Voluntary is very similar to pieces with national connotations. Indeed, this piece was performed at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Figure 2.

Mean number of national associations generated to each musical extract, by children in each age group. Error bars indicate 95% CI’s.

The interaction between age group and musical extract was significant, F(4, 118) = 4.65, p = .002, η²_p = .14. Further analysis of this interaction revealed that there were no age group differences in the number of national associations generated to the Trumpet Voluntary, F(2, 59) = .17, p = .85, nor to Jerusalem, F(2, 59) = 1.21, p = .31. However, for the BNA, there were significant age differences in the number of national associations generated, F(2, 59) = 4.93, p = .01, η²_p = .14. The 10-year-olds (M = 3.39, SD =1.76) generated significantly more national associations than the 8-year-old children (M = 1.44, SD = 1.76), and marginally more national associations than the 9-year-old children (M = 1.88, SD = 1.90), as revealed through Gabriel post-hoc tests (p = .01, d = 0.80, and p = .06, d = 0.62, respectively). The 8-year-olds and the 9-year-olds did not differ from each other (p = .75). Furthermore, when comparing across the musical excerpts, only the 10-year-olds differed in the number of national associations generated, F(2, 34) = 8.94, p = .001, η²_p = .35, where the number of associations to the BNA was significantly greater than to the other excerpts (ps < .01). Common national association responses included ‘The Queen,’ ‘Buckingham Palace,’ and the ‘Queen’s Jubilee.’

Strength of identification scale

A composite SoIS score was created by combining the five item scores. A principle components analysis confirmed that the five components formed a single factor (factor loadings: Pride .71; Importance .70; Degree .63; Internalization .56; Feeling .55). The scale had a Cronbach’s alpha value of .62. No item when removed from the scale would improve this value.⁴

The number of national associations generated to the BNA were explored according to whether children were high or low in national identity (i.e., above or below the mean on the SoIS variable; see Figure 3) using a 3 (Age Group; 8, 9, 10) × 2 (National Identity; High, Low) Between-Subjects ANOVA. There was a significant main effect of age, F(2, 56) = 5.96, p = .004, η²_p = .18, with the 10-year-olds producing more national associations than the 8-year-olds (Tukey p = .007, d = 0.97) and the 9-year-olds (Tukey p = .04, d = 0.72). The 8-year-olds and 9-year-olds did not differ from one another (Tukey p =.61). The main effect of national identity was non-significant, F(1, 56) = 2.74, p = .10, but there was a marginally significant interaction between age group and national identity group, F(2, 56) = 2.83, p = .07, η²_p = .09. Whilst there was no difference in the number of national associations generated to the BNA by those high and low in national identity in the 8-year-old group (t(16) = .88, p = .39), for both the 9-year-olds and the 10-year-olds those children high in national identity generated more national associations than those low in national identity, t(24) = 2.20, p = .04, d = 0.97, and t(16) = 2.13, p =.05, d = 0.85, respectively.⁵

Figure 3.

Mean number of national associations generated to the National Anthem by children high and low in national identity as measured by the SoIS, for children in each age group. Error bars indicate 95% CI’s.

General discussion

The primary aim of the present studies was to explore British children’s thoughts and associations when they hear their National Anthem. There is currently no research exploring this issue, despite clear interest in issues of national identity in a British society where a unified ‘British’ identity is less salient than it may have been in the past (Lam & Corson, 2013). Both studies provided evidence that when hearing the BNA, children between the ages of 8 and 10 generate associations with national connotations, such as the Royal Family, the nation’s military, or national sports teams. In particular, the BNA elicited more national associations than Jerusalem, a piece also with national connotations, and the Trumpet Voluntary, a piece similar in style. These results are consistent with the work of Gilboa and Bodner (2009), and replicate their findings from adults, that more national associations were made to the Israeli National Anthem than other pieces of music varying in national salience.

With previous evidence suggesting that national identity is not a salient part of a child’s self-concept until the age of 11 (Barrett et al., 2003), it is perhaps not surprising that some developmental effects were observed. Only the oldest children (aged 10) made significantly more national associations to the BNA than the other pieces of music, and national identity was only related to the number of national associations elicited by the BNA in 9- and 10-year-old children. It is important to explore possible developmental effects in further research, for example by tracing the development of national identity and how this relates to children’s feelings about important national symbols. This is particularly important given Lam and Corson’s (2013) finding that, having peaked at the age of nine years, British national identity then declined into adolescence.

The large majority of children listed positive feelings as a result of hearing the BNA, including nearly half of the children reporting a feeling of pride. Unlike previous studies assessing a child’s pride in their nation (e.g. Dennis et al., 1972), it is important to note that feelings of pride were reported in the present study without a direct cue given by the researcher. However, it is important to ascertain through further research the reasons why half of the children studied did not report a feeling of pride. Such reasons may relate to cognitive, emotional or social factors.

The ‘functionalist theory’ emphasizes that a national anthem is important in creating a sense of national identity. Folkestad (2002) argues, therefore, that nationally salient music should be included in music education to foster a strong sense of national identity. This issue is already receiving interest across many countries. For example, Kennedy and Guerrini (2012), on the basis of their work with Canadian children, argue that the school environment is the most appropriate in which to instil a sense of national identity in children.

There exists evidence (e.g. Hand & Pearce, 2011) that teachers and students would like to see a balanced perspective of British patriotism incorporated into the school curriculum. Whilst not solely focusing on national identity, and also incorporating citizenship and multiculturalism, the National Curriculum subject of Citizenship is taught in UK secondary schools. This endeavour was strongly supported by figureheads such as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown following the 2005 London terror attacks; such education in multiculturalism and citizenship could foster a renewed sense of ‘Britishness’ (Osler, 2009). Whilst schools have a crucial role to play in supporting young people in developing a strong sense of social cohesion and pride towards their community (e.g. Brookes & Holford, 2009), an overly-academic approach to the area of citizenship might be demotivating to children (Osler, 2011).

At a time when there is a feeling of a greater sense of national pride (e.g. as a result of the London Olympics), yet also signs of a changing landscape in the United Kingdom with debates over Scottish independence, understanding children’s sense of national identity, and how this is influenced by symbols such as the BNA, is a particularly important area of study. Whilst the present studies are small in scale, our findings indicate that going beyond the exploration of children’s knowledge of national emblems, but also considering how this relates to children’s sense of national identity, is a fruitful avenue for future research. Indeed, this directly addresses recommendations made by the British Psychological Society’s Centenary Project into children’s views of Britain and Britishness (e.g. Barrett, 2002). It is important for future research to explore the influence of a child’s cultural background on the associations that are generated when they hear the BNA, particularly as Gilboa & Bodner (2009) found that more national associations were generated by Israeli-born participants in comparison to immigrants. Given that ethnic and national identity are separate dimensions (Sabatier, 2008), and taking into account the ethnic diversity of the UK, it is important to understand differences in national identity between first/second generation members of the population. It is possible that other factors such as socio-economic status and geographical area might also play a role in the generation of national associations, particularly given the fact that internalization of relevant symbols (e.g. a National Anthem) plays a role in the development of identity (Papapavlou & Pavlou, 2001). In an increasingly diverse society, understanding children’s feelings about the BNA, and the role it plays in maintaining and validating a sense of national identity, has both important educational and social implications. As pertinently argued by Waldron and Pike (2006, p. 231), ‘understanding children’s ideas about national identity is vital if educators are to engage children in the construction of an hospitable, critical and reflective citizenry.’ Gaining a deeper understanding of how children respond to nationally salient music might provide insight into how music education can best foster positive identity with an increasingly diverse Britain.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

Ethical approval for this project was given by the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences Ethics Committee at the University of Surrey (ref number 657-PSY-11).

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes

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‘It’s all about our great Queen’: The British National Anthem and national identity in 8–10-year-old children

Abstract

Keywords

The current studies

Study 1

Method

Participants

Design and materials

Procedure

Results and discussion

Children’s knowledge of the National Anthem

Children’s feelings when listening to the National Anthem

Children’s generation of national associations

Children’s drawings

Study 2

Method

Participants

Design

Materials

Procedure

Results and discussion

Emotions

National associations

Strength of identification scale

General discussion

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

Funding

Notes

References