Adolescents' social position and the belief in a just world

The general belief in a just world is a way of understanding reality according to which human relations are fair. The research was an exploratory study that investigated the support of 736 secondary school students from Uberlandia, Brazil, to the general belief in a just world. Participants completed an adapted version of the Global Belief in a Just World Scale. Descriptive statistics relative to the global response proportions and to social positions that combined family income and mother schooling were calculated. Results indicated that students tend to disagree with the existence of a general just world, with the exception of an indicator that states that effort is rewarded, which was interpreted as a meritocratic principle that possibly guides a personal belief in a just world. Participants from unfavorable social positions tended to support the belief in a just world more, which might be a way of coping the challenges of reality.