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Children care about fair resource allocations, but it is less clear whether they also care about fair treatment. Six- to -15-year-olds (N = 148, 51% female, middle-class, data collected Dec 2020-June 2021) from Germany and India reported their own and others' experiences with unfairness. They mentioned unfair treatment more frequently than resource distribution, reported fair treatment increasingly with age, and generally rated unfair experiences negatively. Emotional reactions to unfairness included feeling bad, sad, and angry, and with age, reports of feeling bad decreased and feeling angry increased. There were strong cultural commonalities in children's experiences with and reactions to unfairness, with only limited societal variation. Children have a multifaceted concept of fairness that extends beyond resource allocations and encompasses fair treatment and respect.

More information Original publication

DOI

10.1093/chidev/aacag110

Type

Journal article

Publication Date

2026-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

Keywords

cross-cultural, fairness, respect