Increasing the Complexity of Young Adolescents' Beliefs about Poverty and Inequality: Results of an 8th Grade Social Studies Curriculum Intervention

Autor/inn/en	Mistry, Rashmita S.; Brown, Christia Spears; Chow, Kirby A.; Collins, Geri S.
Titel	Increasing the Complexity of Young Adolescents' Beliefs about Poverty and Inequality: Results of an 8th Grade Social Studies Curriculum Intervention
Quelle	In: Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41 (2012) 6, S.704-716 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0047-2891
DOI	10.1007/s10964-011-9699-6
Schlagwörter	Intervention; Poverty; Economically Disadvantaged; Adolescents; Grade 8; Social Studies; Homeless People; Beliefs; Children; Social Differences; Surveys; Student Attitudes; Teaching Methods; Course Content + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Armut; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; School year 08; 8. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 08; Gemeinschaftskunde; Homeless person; Homeless persons; Obdachloser; Belief; Glaube; Child; Kind; Kinder; Sozialer Unterschied; Survey; Umfrage; Befragung; Schülerverhalten; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Kursprogramm
Abstract	Poverty and economic hardship remain a reality for many of America's children. Although the causes of poverty are varied, Americans strongly endorse individual responsibility as a primary cause. Because beliefs about poverty originate in childhood and adolescence, intervention efforts targeting young people may be particularly effective in shifting attitudes about the poor and policies designed to help the disadvantaged. To test this proposition, the current study evaluated the efficacy of a 1-week 8th grade social studies curriculum focusing on poverty and inequality. Study participants were upper middle-class youth enrolled in multiple sections of a Social Studies course taught by a single teacher. Participants had little direct contact with marginalized groups such as poor and homeless individuals in their communities. Students (N = 66) completed a survey assessing their attitudes and beliefs about poverty and poor people prior to, and 1 week and 6 months post-instruction. Results indicated that the curriculum was partially effective in increasing the complexity of students' beliefs about poverty. Students were more likely to emphasize fatalistic causes and less likely to list individualistic causes for poverty following instruction than before, but rarely emphasized structural causes for poverty and rated individual effort as the most influential factor in determining one's success. Implications of the study findings for curriculum efforts targeting young adolescents' reasoning about economic inequality and inequity and directions for future studies are discussed. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10