Russia Ukraine war

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 posed practical and symbolic threats to EU citizens. Did this threat affect citizens’ identification with the EU? This was the main research question addressed in the current paper. In addition, we aimed to assess whether the influence of perceived threat on identification with EU was mediated by perceived entitativity of the EU. Finally, we expected perceived threat to improve participants’ attitudes towards EU integration and enlargement, through the mediation of entitativity (mediator 1) and identification with EU (mediator 2). We ran an online survey (N = 349) and tested a structural equation model involving a serial mediation path. Results suggest that perceived threat affects identification with EU only indirectly, through the mediation of entitativity. In addition, perceived threat and entitativity have a significant indirect effect on attitude toward EU integration and attitude toward EU enlargement, yet they are directly associated only to the former. Results are discussed in relation to previous research showing the effect of perceived threat on identification without considering the mediation of entitativity. P