Children's and adolescents' moral judgments predict confrontations of gender-based science leadership inequalities.

Authors

Marley B Forbes, Anusha Kumar, Melanie Killen

Published in

Child development. Jul 31, 2026. Epub Jul 31, 2026.

Abstract

Prejudice confrontations can be effective in reducing bias, but few studies have examined them in childhood. This study, in the United States, investigated 8- to 14-year olds' (N = 196; Mage = 11.64; 114 girls, 82 boys; 33.7% White, 27.6% Multiracial/Multiethnic, 12.2% Black, 8.2% Latino, 7.7% Asian, 4.5% Other, and 6.1% not reported) evaluations of, reasoning about, and confrontations of gender-based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) inequalities within peer groups. Data were collected in 2024. Participants who evaluated inequalities more negatively were more likely to confront them. Evaluations of inequalities that disadvantaged boys, but not girls, were more positive with age. Finally, evaluations of inequalities uniquely predicted participants' use of different reasoning categories to justify their evaluations. These findings demonstrate children's and adolescents' capacities to make STEM contexts more equitable for all children.

PMID:
42536053
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 31 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.