Social justice development among emerging adult students: The influence of families, peers, and religious congregations

ABSTRACT

Social justice development is likely influenced by a range of contextual experiences. We examined the ways in which emerging adult students’ experiences with families, peers, and religious congregations were associated with their own social justice outcomes. Participants (N = 288; 65.4% = women) completed a survey of social justice attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of their families’, peers,’ and congregations’ engagement with social justice issues. Findings indicated that family, peer, and congregational factors explained significant amounts of variance in students’ social justice outcomes and provided unique insight into aspects of students’ experiences that may be particularly relevant to social justice development during this period.

KEYWORDS:

• College
• emerging adulthood
• social justice
• moral development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tara M. Stoppa

Tara M. Stoppa is Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology at Eastern University, St. Davids, PA.