Chinese Adolescents’ Belief in a Just World: Social Class and Age Disparities

• Published in: Youth & society Vol. 57; no. 5; pp. 816 - 829
• Main Authors: Lyu, Sa-Sa, Wang, Ya-Meng, Liu, Chang-Jiang, Wang, Qing-Hai, Ding, Duo-Duo, Wang, Zuo-Jun, Wang, Deming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2025; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adolescent Attitudes; Adolescents; Age; Age differences; Background; Beliefs; Childrens Attitudes; Cross-sectional studies; Defense mechanisms; Ethnicity; Just world beliefs; Social Class; Social classes; Social environment; Socioeconomic status; Teenagers; China; adolescent; social inequality; belief in a just world; social class
• ISSN: 0044-118X; 1552-8499
• DOI: 10.1177/0044118X241313189

This cross-sectional study examined how Chinese adolescents’ belief in a just world (BJW) varied across social class and age. A sample of 2,748 adolescents aged 10 to 18 years (47.2% female; 99.1% Han ethnicity) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in China completed the Belief in a Just World Scale and the Socioeconomic Status Survey. Adolescents from higher social-class backgrounds were found to have higher general and personal BJW compared to their peers from lower social-class backgrounds, with the difference being more pronounced for personal BJW. Additionally, SES moderated age-related changes in BJW: for adolescents from middle- or higher-class backgrounds, BJW decreased with age, whereas for those from lower-class backgrounds, BJW remained relatively stable across adolescence. These findings suggest that BJW functions as a psychological defense mechanism, shaped by an individual’s perceived access to fairness and opportunity within their social environment.