Abstract

This mixed-methods, longitudinal study utilized survey data from a sample of (primarily) Black and Latinx adolescents’ (n = 643) and qualitative interviews with a subset of adolescents (n = 39) to consider changes in adolescents’ beliefs about poverty and economic inequality throughout high school as well as the sources of their beliefs. Adolescents demonstrated significant, linear growth in their beliefs that poverty was caused by structural factors. This finding resonated with analyses of four waves of qualitative interviews in which a majority of participating adolescents shifted from citing individualistic causes to structural causes in their explanations of economic inequality and the opportunity structure in the United States. In explaining the sources of these beliefs, participating adolescents most frequently cited personal experiences, school-related experiences, and social media.

摘要

这项混合方法纵向研究利用了来自（主要）黑人和拉丁裔青少年样本的调查数据（n  = 643）和对一部分青少年的定性访谈（n = 39) 考虑整个高中期间青少年对贫困和经济不平等的看法的变化以及他们的信念来源。青少年对贫困是由结构性因素造成的信念显着线性增长。这一发现与对四波定性访谈的分析产生共鸣，其中大多数参与的青少年在解释美国经济不平等和机会结构时从引用个人主义原因转向结构性原因。在解释这些信念的来源时，参与的青少年最常引用个人经历、学校相关经历和社交媒体。