The Just World Gap, Privilege, and Legal Socialization: A Study Among Brazilian Preadolescents

Thomas, Kendra J.; Rodrigues, Herbert

doi:10.1007/s11211-019-00344-6

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…Adolescents who perceive that their family is less well off than other families may feel this is unjust or doubt whether the world can be fair [7,21]. Our research suggests that not only in countries like Kenya, Brazil and China [22][23][24], but also in a country with a relatively high standard of living such as the Netherlands, adolescents with lower perceived family wealth see the world as less just than their higher SES peers. Furthermore, as expected, adolescents with lower BJW had higher levels of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and peer problems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Evidence suggests these adolescents may therefore have lower BJW because they are likely to have experienced more injustice, or they may perceive society to be more unjust as a way to understand their lower SES position in society [7,21]. Few empirical studies have examined this association in adolescents, but those that do have shown that Kenyan, Brazilian and Chinese adolescents with lower SES have lower BJW [22][23][24]. We expect that the relationship between SES and BJW may be stronger for subjective SES than for objective SES given that subjective SES and BJW are both based on adolescents' perceptions of their place in the world.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The social gradient in adolescent mental health: mediated or moderated by belief in a just world?

Weinberg

Peeters

Visser

et al. 2021

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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Purpose A social gradient in adolescent mental health exists: adolescents with higher socioeconomic status (SES) have fewer mental health problems than their peers with lower SES. Little is known about whether adolescents’ societal beliefs play a role in this social gradient. Belief in a just world (BJW) may be a mediator or moderator of the social gradient in adolescent mental health. Methods Using data from 848 adolescents (Mage = 17) in the Netherlands, path analyses examined whether two indicators of BJW (general and personal) mediated or moderated the associations between two indicators of SES (family affluence and perceived family wealth), and four indicators of adolescent mental health problems (emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer problems). Results Adolescents with lower family affluence and lower perceived family wealth reported more emotional symptoms, and the association between perceived family wealth and emotional symptoms was mediated by lower personal and general BJW. Furthermore, higher personal BJW amplified the negative association between SES and peer problems. Conclusion This study suggests BJW may both mediate and amplify the social gradient in adolescent mental health. Adolescents’ beliefs about society may be important to include in research aimed at understanding this social gradient.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The social gradient in adolescent mental health: mediated or moderated by belief in a just world?

Weinberg

Peeters

Visser

et al. 2021

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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show abstract

“…Adolescents who perceive that their family is less well off than other families may feel this is unjust or doubt whether the world can be fair (Dalbert & Sallay, 2004;Schmitt, 1998). Our research suggests that not only in countries like Kenya, Brazil and China (Thomas & Mucherah, 2016;Thomas & Rodrigues, 2019;Yu et al, 2018) but also in a country with a relatively high standard of living such as the Netherlands, adolescents with lower perceived family wealth see the world as less just than their higher SES peers. Furthermore, as expected, adolescents with lower BJW had higher levels of (all four indicators of) mental health problems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…These adolescents may have lower BJW because they are likely to have experienced more injustice, or they may perceive society as more unjust as a way to understand their lower SES position in society (Dalbert & Sallay, 2004;Schmitt, 1998). Few empirical studies have examined this association, but those that do have shown that Kenyan, Brazilian and Chinese adolescents with lower SES have lower BJW (Thomas & Mucherah, 2016;Thomas & Rodrigues, 2019;Yu et al, 2018). In turn, as adolescents with lower BJW may doubt that the social context is just or that people are trustworthy, they may have fewer resources to help them cope with stress and may be susceptible to mental health problems (Dalbert & Sallay, 2004;Jost & Hunyady, 2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The social gradient in adolescent mental health: mediated or moderated by belief in a just world?

Weinberg¹,

Peeters²,

Visser³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Purpose. A social gradient in adolescent mental health exists: adolescents with higher so-cioeconomic status (SES) have fewer mental health problems than their peers with lower SES. Little is known about whether adolescents’ societal beliefs play a role in this social gradient. Belief in a just world (BJW) may be a mediator or moderator of the social gradient in adolescent mental health.Methods. Using data from 1,130 adolescents (Mage = 17) in the Netherlands, path analyses examined whether two indicators of BJW (general and personal) mediated or moderated the associations between two indicators of SES (family affluence and perceived family wealth), and four indicators of adolescent mental health problems (emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity and peer problems).Results. Adolescents with lower perceived family wealth reported more emotional symp-toms and peer problems, and these associations were partly mediated by lower personal and general BJW. Furthermore, higher personal BJW amplified the negative association be-tween SES and peer problems.Conclusion. This study suggests BJW may both mediate and amplify the social gradient in adolescent mental health. Adolescents’ beliefs about society may be important to include in research aimed at understanding this social gradient.

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“…It is also regarded as a personal trait that facilitates individuals to weigh the pursuit and achievement of long-term goals ( Hafer et al, 2005 ). In terms of the relationship between harshness and unpredictability and BJW specifically, lower family SES predicts lower BJW in individuals, because children and adolescents growing up with lower family SES are more likely to be victims of various injustices, or they may perceive society as more unjust and more likely to develop the perception that they are not being treated fairly ( Thomas and Rodrigues, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2021 ; Weinberg et al, 2021 ). The reason for this is that children with lower family SES face greater adversity and life instability and are not treated exactly the same as children with higher family SES ( Bradley and Corwyn, 2002 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mediating Role of Chinese College Students’ Control Strategies: Belief in a Just World and Life History Strategy

et al. 2022

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The harshness and unpredictability of early life circumstances shape life history strategies for trade-offs between the resources devoted to somatic and reproductive efforts of individuals in the developmental process. This paper uses belief in a just world as a reflection of early environmental cues to predict an individual’s life history strategies. Research has found that belief in a just world influences life history strategies through a sense of control. However, the relationship between a sense of control and a life history strategy is flawed because influencing life history strategies should be intrinsic to control strategies rather than a sense of control. A total of 408 Chinese undergraduate students completed the Personal Belief in a Just World Scale, Mini-K Scale, and Primary and Secondary Control Scale. Structural equation modeling suggested that belief in a just world can directly or indirectly influence life history strategies through primary and secondary control strategies, respectively; there was no statistical difference in the degree of influence between the two paths. These results deepen our understanding of the underlying mechanisms in the relationship between belief in a just world and life history strategies, which can be utilized to ensure a slow life history strategy among Chinese university students in the future.

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The Just World Gap, Privilege, and Legal Socialization: A Study Among Brazilian Preadolescents

Cited by 19 publications

References 74 publications

The social gradient in adolescent mental health: mediated or moderated by belief in a just world?

The social gradient in adolescent mental health: mediated or moderated by belief in a just world?

The social gradient in adolescent mental health: mediated or moderated by belief in a just world?

The Mediating Role of Chinese College Students’ Control Strategies: Belief in a Just World and Life History Strategy

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