Perceiving fairness in an unfair world: System justification and the mental health of girls in detention facilities

Abstract

Psychologists in the helping professions have long accepted the idea that cognitions have implications for mental health and wellbeing. Community psychologists have further established the importance of context and systems in the etiology of mental health problems. In this paper, we argue that as a discipline that prioritizes social justice, community psychology should consider associations between cognitions about structural and systemic inequality and individual mental health, particularly in marginalized populations. As one illustration of this argument and its complexities, we asked if and to what degree mental health was concurrently associated with adolescents' beliefs in societal fairness (i.e., system‐justifying beliefs), attending to gender differences. Our findings were informed by a sample of 196 adolescents residing in detention facilities (49.50% girls; 51.75% Black/Caribbean, 21.68% multiracial; 15.38% Hispanic/Latine; 27.98% LGBTQ+). These youth represent an understudied group in the research literature addressing fairness beliefs and their influence on wellness. Results suggested that boys were more likely to endorse societal fairness compared to girls, but these beliefs were unrelated to their mental health. However, we found a significant gender moderation such that girls who perceived society to be fair reported lower levels of internalizing and externalizing mental health problems. We discuss implications for theory, research, and intervention.

“Overcrowded but lonely”: exploring mental health and well-being among young prisoners in Cambodia

“…This has also been reported in a study from Indian prisons which found that women were provided more services compared to men in terms of parenting and counselling classes, support groups and day care services, contributing to significantly reduced mental health challenges (Mishra et al , 2021). In contrast, a study on the mental health of youth detainees in the USA found that male juveniles experienced more fairness in care than their female counterparts, which was found to have significant positive effects on their internalising and externalising problems (Sichel et al , 2022). This differential perception of prison settings among men and women may indicate gender issues in different contexts and cultures within the prison system of care and available privileges in high- and low-income countries that need further exploration.…”

Relationship between Internet Use and Negative Affect

“…Drawing upon the existing studies on Internet use (Ma & Zhu, 2020 ; Vatsa et al, 2022 ; Zhang et al, 2019 ; Zheng et al, 2021 ) and negative affect (Akpınar, 2021 ; Chekroud et al, 2018 ; Lee et al, 2021 ; Sichel et al, 2022 ; Zhang et al, 2022 ), we selected a number of control variables to capture individual, household and contextual characteristics. They include respondents’ age, gender, education, working status, exercise, lunch break habit, reading experience, family size, elder ratio, child ratio, and living location.…”