Personal and general belief in a just world and self-esteem in primary school students

Abstract

According to the just world theory, individuals have the need to believe that the world is a fair and predictable place where good things happen to “good” people and bad things happen to “bad” people. Previous research on this theory has focused mainly on students of secondary education and higher education. The current study examines personal (PBJW) and general (GBJW) belief in a just world in 292 fifth and sixth-grade primary school students (Mage = 10.98, SD = 0.74) in Greece. It also investigates the effect of other demographic variables, such as grade, gender, and place of residence on self-esteem. Lastly, it explores the contribution of PBJW and GBJW to self-esteem. Students completed the Greek translation of the scales of General and Personal Belief in a Just World as well as a Self-Esteem Scale. The results indicated that students more strongly endorse PBJW than GBJW. Also, PBJW and children’s place of residence significantly predict self-esteem, indicating that the more the students feel they are treated fairly, the better their level of self-esteem.