Just environments foster character: A longitudinal assessment of school climate

ABSTRACT

Justice is at the center of many definitions of character across various lines of research, yet there is little empirical research on how the justice of contexts can foster character virtues. The current study draws from a sample of 1,865 Brazilian fourth and fifth graders across two time points in 60 schools (42.7% White; 48.3% male). A multilevel structural equation model demonstrated the mediating role that justice beliefs play between authoritative school climate and socio-emotional learning, and the character virtues of bravery, fairness, and prosocial leadership even after accounting for grade, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES). This study highlights the importance of understanding the contextual justice of children’s environments on the development of character virtues.

KEYWORDS:

• Justice beliefs
• socioemotional learning
• school climate
• fairness

Disclosure statement

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

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2022.2081138

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation [grant number 0354].

Notes on contributors

Kendra J. Thomas

Kendra J. Thomas Ph.D. is an associate professor of psychology at Hope College in the United States. She has a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Ball State University. She researches youths’ perceptions of justice and virtue development and works to improve positive interventions in child and adolescent development in Brazil and South Africa.

Josafá M. da Cunha

Josafá M. da Cunha Ph.D. is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the United States specializing in adolescent development, cross-cultural psychology, and statistics. He has a Ph.D. in psychology from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Dr. Santo’s research interests include adolescent identity development, moderators of the depressive effects of peer victimization, and cross-cultural differences in peer relations. He is the co-editor of the Journal of Latino/Latin-American Studies.

Jonathan B. Santo

Jonathan B. Santo Ph.D. is a professor of psychology at the Federal University of Paraná, in Brazil. He specializes in educational psychology and his primary research interests are in school climate, discrimination, teacher–student relationships, peer victimization, and positive peer relationships. He has served as an elected official in the Society for Research of Adolescence (2012–2016), and the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (2014–2018).