Personal belief in a just world, experience of teacher justice, and school distress in different class contexts

Abstract

The study examined the meaning of personal belief in a just world and students’ experience of their teachers’ behavior toward them personally for school distress in different class contexts. The study involved 827 secondary school students from 61 classes (grades 9 to 11). Analyses revealed that the more the students believed in a personal just world, the more they felt their teachers’ behavior toward them personally to be just, and the less school distress they experienced; the association between belief in a just world (BJW) and school distress was partly mediated by students’ personal experience of teacher justice. These associations were stable across school tracks, schools, and classes. According to these results and the just world theory, a strong BJW seems to function as a rather context-independent personal resource for students, explaining their individual experience of teacher justice and school distress. Moreover, teacher justice seems to be a key feature of schools explaining students’ well-being at school.