Psychological Reports, 1993, 73, 1096-1098. O Psychological Reports 1993 ON THE SUBJECT O F A DIVIDED EUROPE: A PRELIMINARY SURVEY O F A SAMPLE O F UK UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ' PATRICIA ELLIS AND BAHMAN BALUCH University of Luton Strmmary.-40 men and 40 women university students responded to a question- naire in which were assessed their attitudes towards the future of Europe as nations di- vided along political grounds or ethnicity. Half of the items on the questionnaire as- sessed 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 sig- nificant gender differences, with men showing significantly stronger positive views on both issues of ethnicity and politics than women. The 1990s is the decade in which Europeans have become very aware that, despite the over-all trend towards globalisation, there is a resurgence of nationalism. This has been particularly important in central and eastern Europe with competing nationalities and ethnoterritorial claims following the major socioeconomic and political changes in this region. Comparative re- search undertaken in Slovakia and the UK (Ellis & Bazovl, 1993) highlights differences in perceptions of nation, culture, and race between the two coun- tries, suggesting there are potentially significant grounds for research into psychological aspects of sociopolitical analysis. At the moment, there seems to be no systematic research on psychological responses to the sociopolitical factors contributing to a divided or dividing Europe. The present survey is the first such attempt to explore whether, in the opinion of UK university students, the primary motivating factor reshaping the map of Europe is politically or ethnically based. Moreover, it would be of interest to examine whether there are differences in views between men and women on the subject of a divided Europe. Since the subject has not been studied earlier, it was not possible to generate prior expectations. Nei- ther had we any reason to anticipate gender differences in responses. The participants were 40 men and 40 women, aged between 18 and 38 years. The respondents were asked to respond by rating on a 5-point scale, ranging from 5 'strong agreement,' 4 'agreement,' 3 'no opinion,' 2 'disagree- ment,' to 1 'strong disagreement.' Ratings were such that the greater the 'The authors are grateful to Michelle Whitfield, Elizabeth Veysey, and Terenzio Di Paolo for he1 ing with data collection. Address correspondence to either Dr. Patricia Ellis or Dr. Bahman ~Lch, Facul of Healrh Care and Social Studies, University of Luton, Luton, Bedfordshire LU1 3JU, ~nJand.