Children’s Decisions to Rectify Bias-Based Ethnic Inequalities: Evidence from Maryland and Hawaiʻi

• In Event: Youth’s Conceptions of Prejudice and Inequality Across Contexts: Evidence from Asia, Europe, and North America

Abstract

The fair allocation of resources and opportunities is a fundamental human concern. With age, children increasingly reference the moral obligation to distribute resources equally. At the same time, children gather information from their social environments to construct conceptions of bias and discrimination. Research has demonstrated that under certain conditions children take group identity (such as race or ethnicity) into account when allocating resources and opportunities. In some cases, children display ingroup biases. Yet, as children age, they also develop more insight into the status hierarchies underlying prejudicial attitudes and the subsequent inequalities often created by those in positions of authority. After witnessing a biased inequality children may prioritize giving to those who are disadvantaged, especially if they recognize that rectifying disparities means giving more to those who have less.

The present study investigated how children rectify ethnically-biased inequalities across two contexts. We sampled children from Maryland, a racially diverse U.S. state with a White numerical majority, and Hawaiʻi, a racially diverse U.S. state with no racial/ethnic numerical majority. We investigated whether children from these contexts would differ in their allocations after witnessing ethnically-biased inequalities created by teachers.

Participants from Maryland (n = 275, M = 11.18 years, 40.7% White, 18.2% Multiracial, 14.8% Black, 14.2% Latinx, 5.5% Asian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 6.2% other/unspecified) and Hawaiʻi (n = 158, M = 11.29 years, 55.7 % Multiracial, 25.9% Asian, 7.0% White, 5.7% Black, 4.4% Native Hawaiian, 1.3% Pacific Islander) viewed hypothetical scenarios in which teachers created inequalities by unequally distributing leadership opportunities. In the Ethnicity condition, participants viewed a teacher giving leadership opportunities to 1) four White students, 2) four Latinx (Maryland) or Pacific Islander (Hawaiʻi) students, 3) two White students and two Latinx or Pacific Islander students. Then participants were told it was their turn: “Who do you think should be chosen [for the leadership opportunity]?” Participants also justified their choice, “Why?”

The results revealed that Maryland and Hawaiʻi participants used different strategies after witnessing ethnically-biased inequalities, β = -1.018, t(413) = 19.112, p < .001, Exp(B) = 0.361, 95% CI [0.229, 0.570]. For Maryland participants specifically, after witnessing both unequal allocations more participants rectified the inequality by choosing a peer from the ethnic group not originally chosen, β = -0.324, t(264) = 3.996, p = .046, Exp(B) = 0.723, 95% CI [0.527, 0.994] (Figure 1). However, Maryland participants also revealed ethnic ingroup bias, β = -0.735, t(264) = 7.585, p = .006, Exp(B) = 0.480, 95% CI [0.284, 0.809] (Figure 2). Hawaiʻi participants did not significantly differ in their allocations by inequality or participant ethnicity (ps > .122). Participant reasoning and additional findings by age will be discussed.

The findings of this study show that children from Maryland rectified ethnically-biased inequalities, yet they also exhibited ingroup biases. Children from Hawaiʻi remained impartial, showing no ethnic ingroup biases while also not rectifying the ethnically-biased inequalities they witnessed. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how youth respond to bias-based inequalities created by teachers or others in positions of authority.

Authors

• Amanda Rose Burkholder, Furman University
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Brey, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

• Dylan Cooper, University of Maryland

• Kristin J.M.B. Pauker, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

• Melanie A. Killen, University of Maryland - College Park