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Social Justice Attitudes and Their Demographic Correlates Among a Nationally Representative Sample of U.S. Adolescents

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Abstract

Compared to extant studies, this study uses more rigorous analyses to describe social justice attitudes and their correlates among a nationally representative sample of 2,811 U.S. ninth-graders. Females and adolescents with more educated mothers tended to express more support for social justice. Strikingly, about 90 % of adolescents believed that equal opportunity to obtain a good education exists in the U.S. Adolescents were also more likely to support abstract social justice principles rather than solutions that promote social justice: about 80 % agreed that all races and genders should have equal opportunities, but only 55 % reported that government should be responsible for individuals’ economic needs. Differences between U.S. adolescents’ and adults’ attitudes are noted, and implications for future research are presented.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Ed Seidman for his guidance on an earlier version of this article. The first author’s involvement in this research was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305B080019 to New York University.

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This research complies with the laws of the United States. APA ethical standards were followed in the conduct of the study.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest with the organization that sponsored this research.

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  1. Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, 246 Greene St., 8th Floor, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    Justina Kamiel Grayman & Erin B. Godfrey

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  1. Justina Kamiel Grayman
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  2. Erin B. Godfrey
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Correspondence to Justina Kamiel Grayman.

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Grayman, J.K., Godfrey, E.B. Social Justice Attitudes and Their Demographic Correlates Among a Nationally Representative Sample of U.S. Adolescents. Soc Just Res 26, 422–444 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-013-0196-9

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