Original Research Reports Competing Collective Narratives in Intergroup Rapprochement: A Transgenerational Perspective Margareta Jelić 1, Dinka Čorkalo Biruški 1, Dean Ajduković 1 [1] Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2021, Vol. 9(2), 370–400, https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.6939 Received: 2017-09-05 • Accepted: 2021-02-02 • Published (VoR): 2021-09-01 Handling Editor: Guy Elcheroth, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland Corresponding Author: Margareta Jelić, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lučića 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract In the context of an ethnically divided community, we explored the role of competing group narratives for intergroup rapprochement after violent conflict. In Study 1, data from a community survey conducted in Vukovar, Croatia, among 198 Croats, the local majority, and 119 Serbs, the local minority, were analysed to gain perspective on different narratives about the recent war and effects they may have on intergroup relations. In Study 2, focus groups with Croat and Serb children provided data to explore how these narratives were transmitted and transformed in living experience within the second generation. The quantitative results confirm the existence of opposing narratives of war among local Croats and Serbs. Multiple regression analyses show that, after controlling for exposure to war event and their personal impact, different factors predict rapprochement within the two groups. In the minority status group, that displayed higher overall levels of readiness for rapprochement, perceived ingroup victimization and outgroup stereotypes appeared more predictive than the outgroup affect.