Children and adolescents (N = 153, ages 8–14 years, Mage = 11.46 years) predicted and evaluated peer exclusion in interwealth (high‐wealth and low‐wealth) and interracial (African American and ...European American) contexts. With age, participants increasingly expected high‐wealth groups to be more exclusive than low‐wealth groups, regardless of their depicted race. Furthermore, children evaluated interwealth exclusion less negatively than interracial exclusion, and children who identified as higher in wealth evaluated interwealth exclusion less negatively than did children who identified as lower in wealth. Children cited explicit negative stereotypes about high‐wealth groups in their justifications, while rarely citing stereotypes about low‐wealth groups or racial groups. Results revealed that both race and wealth are important factors that children consider when evaluating peer exclusion.
This study investigated children's and adolescents' predictions of inclusion and evaluations of exclusion in interracial and same-race peer contexts. The sample (N = 246) consisted of African ...American (n = 115) and European American (n = 131) children and adolescents who judged the likelihood of including a new peer, evaluated the group's decision to exclude the new peer, and provided reasons for their judgments. European American participants, particularly adolescents, viewed same-race inclusion as more likely than interracial inclusion. In contrast, African American participants viewed interracial and same-race inclusion to be just as likely, and evaluated all forms of exclusion to be more wrong than did their European American counterparts. The findings are discussed with respect to peer messages about interracial peer encounters and the conditions that are necessary for prejudice reduction.
This study investigated children's and adolescents' predictions regarding intergroup inclusion in contexts where peers differed on two dimensions of group membership: race and wealth. African ...American and European American participants (N = 153; age range: 8-14 years, Mage = 11.46 years) made predictions about whether afterschool clubs would prefer to include a peer based on race or wealth and reported what they personally thought should happen. Between late childhood and early adolescence, European American participants increasingly expected that afterschool clubs would include a same-wealth peer (even when this peer was of a different race) whereas African American participants increasingly expected that the afterschool clubs would include a same-race peer (even when this peer was of a different level of wealth). Both European American and African American participants themselves thought that the clubs should include a same-wealth peer over a same-race peer, and with age, were increasingly likely to reference perceived comfort when explaining their decision. Future studies on the development of racial preferences will benefit from including wealth status information given that, with age, perceived comfort was associated with same-wealth rather than same-race status.
Abstract Little is known about how children and adolescents evaluate unequal teacher allocations of leadership duties based on ethnicity‐race and gender in the classroom. U.S. boys and girls, White ...(40.7%), Multiracial (18.5%), Black/African American (16.0%), Latine (14.2%), Asian (5.5%), Pacific Islander (0.4%), and other (4.7%) ethnic‐racial backgrounds, 8–14 years, N = 275, evaluated teacher allocations of high‐status leadership positions favoring specific ethnic‐racial or gender groups during 2018–2021. Adolescents, more than children, negatively evaluated unequal teacher allocations of leadership duties that resulted in group‐based inequalities, expected peers who shared the identity of a group disadvantaged by the teacher's allocation to view it more negatively than others, and rectified inequalities. Understanding perceptions of teacher‐based bias provides an opportunity for interventions designed to create fair and just classrooms that motivate all students to achieve.
In response to some resource inequalities, children give priority to moral concerns. Yet, in others, children show ingroup preferences in their evaluations and resource allocations. The present study ...built upon this knowledge by investigating children's and young adults’ (N = 144; 5–6‐year‐olds, Mage = 5.83, SDage = .97; 9–11‐year‐olds, Mage = 10.74, SDage = .68; and young adults, Mage = 19.92, SDage = 1.10) evaluations and allocation decisions in a science inequality context. Participants viewed vignettes in which male and female groups received unequal amounts of science supplies, then evaluated the acceptability of the resource inequalities, allocated new boxes of science supplies between the groups, and provided justifications for their choices. Results revealed both children and young adults evaluated inequalities of science resources less negatively when girls were disadvantaged than when boys were disadvantaged. Further, 5‐ to 6‐year‐old participants and male participants rectified science resource inequalities to a greater extent when the inequality disadvantaged boys compared to when it disadvantaged girls. Generally, participants who used moral reasoning to justify their responses negatively evaluated and rectified the resource inequalities, whereas participants who used group‐focused reasoning positively evaluated and perpetuated the inequalities, though some age and participant gender findings emerged. Together, these findings reveal subtle gender biases that may contribute to perpetuating gender‐based science inequalities both in childhood and adulthood.
In a hidden inequality context, resource allocators and resource recipients are unaware that an unknowingly advantaged recipient possesses resources. The present study presented children aged 3-13 ...years (N = 121) with a hidden inequality vignette involving an accidental transgression in which one resource claimant, who unknowingly possessed more resources than another claimant, made an "unintentional false claim" to resources. This unintentional false claim resulted in depriving another recipient of needed resources. Results revealed that children's ability to accurately identify the claimant's intentions was related to how they evaluated and reasoned about resource claims, a previously understudied aspect of resource allocation contexts. Children's attributions of intentions to the accidental transgressor mediated the relationship between age and evaluations of the accidental transgression and the relationship between age and assignment of punishment to the accidental transgressor. With age, children who negatively evaluated the unintentional false claim shifted from reasoning about lying to a focus on negligence on the part of the unintentional false claimant. This shift reflects an increasing understanding of the accidental transgressor's benign intentions. These findings highlight how mental state knowledge and moral reasoning inform children's comprehension of resource allocation contexts.
•Children evaluated equal and unequal allocations in a hidden inequality context.•Children without ToM attributed inaccurate intentions to allocators.•Children with ToM incorporated mental states ...into their intention attributions.•Intention attributions predicted children’s moral evaluations of allocations.
In many situations, children evaluate straightforward resource inequalities as unfair. It remains unclear, however, how children interpret hidden inequalities (i.e., inequalities that are unknown to allocators and/or recipients). Children 3–9-years-old (N=87) evaluated and attributed intentions to a naïve resource allocator who, while unaware of a hidden inequality, made three hypothetical resource allocations: (1) an unknowingly equitable allocation (which rectified the inequality), (2) an inequitable allocation (which perpetuated the inequality), and (3) an equal allocation (which maintained the inequality). Children without false belief morally-relevant theory of mind (FB MoToM) attributed more positive intentions to the unknowingly equitable allocation than to the inequitable allocation. Children with FB MoToM, however, did not differ in their attributions of intentions to the unknowingly equitable and inequitable allocations, reflecting their knowledge that the naïve allocator was not aware of the hidden inequality. Further, children’s attributions of intentions were related to their evaluations of the allocations. These findings underscore the importance of children’s social cognitive inferences to their evaluations of resource allocation decisions.
The Developing Inclusive Youth program is a classroom‐based, individually administered video tool that depicts peer‐based social and racial exclusion, combined with teacher‐led discussions. A ...multisite randomized control trial was implemented with 983 participants (502 females; 58.5% White, 41.5% Ethnic/racial minority; Mage = 9.64 years) in 48 third‐, fourth‐, and fifth‐grade classrooms across six schools. Children in the program were more likely to view interracial and same‐race peer exclusion as wrong, associate positive traits with peers of different racial, ethnic, and gender backgrounds, and report play with peers from diverse backgrounds than were children in the control group. Many approaches are necessary to achieve antiracism in schools. This intervention is one component of this goal for developmental science.
This study examined children's (N = 79; 9–10 years) and adolescents’ (N = 82; 15–16 years) ability to regulate their emotion expressions of anxiety as they completed a modified version of the Trier ...Social Stress Test for Children (TSST‐C). Approximately half in each age group were internationally adopted from institutional care (N = 79) and half were non‐adopted, age‐matched peers (N = 82). Institutional care was viewed as a form of early life stress. Coders who were reliable and blind to group status watched videos of the session to assess anxiety expressions using the Child and Adolescent Stress and Emotion Scale developed for this study. Children exhibited more expressions of anxiety than adolescents, and youth adopted from institutions showed more expressions of anxiety than their non‐adopted counterparts. The role of early life stress on observed anxiety expressions remained significant after controlling for differences in age, physiological stress responses measured through salivary cortisol reactivity, and self‐reports of stress during the TSST‐C. This suggests possible deficits in the regulation of expressive behavior for youth with early life stress histories, which cannot be explained by experiencing the task as more stressful.
Reducing prejudice in childhood requires changing group norms that often perpetuate prejudicial attitudes and in-group bias. Research has shown that intergroup contact is one of the most effective ...means to reduce prejudice. Yet little research has examined whether intergroup contact in the form of class discussions that challenge negative group norms might promote the desire to play with diverse peers. This study tested whether a classroom intervention program, Developing Inclusive Youth, which included experiences of direct and indirect contact, would increase children’s desire for contact with diverse peers and reduce reported experiences of social exclusion. A multisite randomized control trial was implemented with 983 students (502 females; 58.5% White; M age = 9.64 years) and 48 teachers in 48 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms across six schools. Overall, students in the program displayed more positive expectations about play with diverse peers and fewer experiences with social exclusion. Classroom discussions involved challenging group norms that perpetuate same-group preferences. Children’s grade moderated their desire for contact with peers from some but not all social groups. This type of program may be an effective means for increasing positive, inclusive group norms in childhood, as this is a time in development when attitudes and preferences for peer friendships are forming. Increasing positive intergroup norms in the classroom creates academic learning environments that promote healthy child development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
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