After the war: Belfast children show little sign of abnormality compared to kids in both Republic and Britain

Young adolescents in Northern Ireland are reluctant to accept the reality of peace, research after paramilitary ceasefires has shown. We also need to be concerned about the psychological health of children in the Ardoyne and other areas affected by the Troubles.

Yet psychological research has given us some reason to be optimistic. There were dire predictions in the 1970s that children growing up with the worst of the violence would become irresponsible and antisocial adults who saw life as cheap.

In fact, these children have grown up to "show little sign of abnormality in comparison to children in other parts of Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, in their levels of moral reasoning, juvenile crime, educational attainment and psychiatric disorder," write Ed Cairns and Frances McLernon in their paper Children and Political Violence: The Northern Ireland Conflict.

This is not to say that children have not suffered psychologically.

Children in Belfast have shown themselves to be surprisingly resilient and any mild stress-related illness has been short-lived. Children developing serious emotional problems have been vulnerable already - having parents with mental illness, for example.

However, we need to ask: at what psychological cost do children appear to be seemingly unaffected, say Cairns and McLernon. Article 39 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) states: "State parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social re-integration of a child victim of any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse." Cairns and McLernon believe this is particularly important in Northern Ireland.

Cairns and McLernon's paper is published in Understanding Children, Volume 1: State, Education and Economy (Oak Tree Press, £16.95).