Collective Program Social Justice Identity and Perceived Norms on Promoting Student Advocacy

Abstract

A growing body of research suggests that graduate psychology training programs with a stronger collective social justice identity are likely to provide more support for students’ advocacy engagements than those with discrepant views among members. We conducted response surface analyses ( N = 178 PhD students; across 16 counseling psychology programs) to examine whether the degree of congruence and discrepancy in social justice attitudes and perceptions of training program norms (perceived social justice norms among students and faculty) between the individual student and other students in their program would be associated with students’ social justice advocacy intentions and behaviors. Higher congruence in attitudes and perceived norms (among students and faculty) were significantly associated with advocacy intentions. For advocacy behaviors, only congruently higher perceptions of faculty were significantly associated. Discrepant attitudes and perceived norms were not significantly related to students’ advocacy intentions and behaviors. Recommendations for training and research are discussed.