Flags are conceptual representations that can prime nationalism and allegiance to one’s group. Investigating children’s understanding of conflict-related ethno-national flags in divided societies sheds light on the development of national categories. We explored the development of children’s awareness of, and preferences for, ethno-national flags in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and the Republic of North Macedonia. Children displayed early categorization of, and ingroup preferences for, ethno-national flags. By middle-childhood, children’s conflict-related social categories shaped systematic predictions about other’s group-based preferences for flags. Children of minority-status groups demonstrated more accurate flag categorization and were more likely to accurately infer others’ flag preferences. While most Balkan children preferred divided versus integrated ethno-national symbols, children in the Albanian majority group in Kosovo demonstrated preferences for the new supra-ethnic national flag. We discuss the implications of children’s ethno-national flag categories on developing conceptualizations of nationality and the potential for shared national symbols to promote peace.

旗帜是可以表达民族主义和对一个国家的忠诚的概念性表示。调查儿童对分裂社会中与冲突有关的民族国旗的理解，为民族类别的发展提供了启示。我们探索了北爱尔兰，科索沃和北马其顿共和国儿童对民族国旗的认识和偏好的发展。儿童表现出对民族国旗的早期分类和群体偏好。到了童年中期，儿童与冲突相关的社会类别就对他人基于旗帜的基于群体的偏好形成了系统的预测。少数族裔群体的孩子表现出更准确的旗帜分类，并且更有可能准确地推断出其他人的旗帜偏好。虽然大多数巴尔干地区的儿童更喜欢分散的民族符号而不是综合的民族符号，但科索沃的阿尔巴尼亚多数族裔儿童表现出了对新的超民族国旗的偏爱。我们讨论了儿童的民族国旗类别对发展国籍概念的影响以及共享国家标志促进和平的潜力。