Children's Developing Understanding of Merit in a Distributive Justice Context

Objectives Distributive justice is an important component of morality given that it directly reflects how individuals reason regarding fairness and others' welfare. Thus far, substantial research has attempted to understand how children make distribution decisions in resource allocation contexts, particularly when merit is salient (e.g., one deserves more resources than another). Despite the rich findings in this area, no systematic literature review has yielded a comprehensive discussion of children's understanding of merit in fairness decisions. Method A systematic review of the pertinent literature was undertaken. Results This article thoroughly synthesizes findings regarding merit-based distributive justice by revealing the roles of culture, resource type, and situation complexity, as well as children's use of underlying reasoning in their distributive decisions. Conclusion The article discusses the findings and directions for future research.