Sense of Community Coherence and Perceptions of Collective Narratives in Postconflict Context: The Mediating Role of Subjective Experience of Interpersonal Power

Post-armed conflict societies usually continue to suffer intergroup tensions and delegitimization of the other group’s collective narratives. This study aimed to explore intergroup relations in the context of post-armed conflict between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo. We expected subjective experience of interpersonal power (SEIP) to mediate the relationships between sense of community coherence (SOCC) and perceptions of contradictory collective narratives. Data were collected in Kosovo by selfadministered questionnaires among 202 Albanians (87 women) and 122 Serbs (49 women) from 18 to 69 years old. The results confirmed the suggested model, and SEIP mediated the relationships between SOCC and perceptions of the ingroup’s and outgroups’ collective narratives among both Serb and Albanian participants.