Abstract: National identity is basic for the mental functioning of young people from different countries. A theoretical review of its cognitive and affective components has been made in the paper. The results of a conducted survey with the national identity scale of young people from Bulgaria and the Czech Republic (n=182; respectively 111 Bulgarians and 71 Czechs, average age – 23.7 years) in the conditions of a crisis have been presented. A comparative analysis by country, gender and age has been made. The results show that national identity is of greater significance for the group of Bulgarians. With the increase of age, the relative significance the Bulgarians ascribe to it, decreases, and with the Czechs it increases.
Key words:national identity, Bulgarians, Czechs, young people.
Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 6, November 2012, http://rhetoric.bg/, ISSN 1314-4464