Perceived school climate norms of equality, perspective-taking and youth collective and civic actions

Shelley McKeown; Christoph Daniel Schaefer; Jaysan Jamaine Charlesford; Thia Sagherian-Dickey; Gian Antonio Di Bernardo; Loris Vezzali

doi:10.1482/118883

Perceived school climate norms of equality, perspective-taking and youth collective and civic actions

Shelley McKeown (Lead / Corresponding author)
, Christoph Daniel Schaefer
, Jaysan Jamaine Charlesford
, Thia Sagherian-Dickey
, Gian Antonio Di Bernardo
, Loris Vezzali

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

1 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Schools can play a crucial role in encouraging young people to make constructive societal contributions that transcend group lines and that benefit communities more generally. Recognising this potential, the present research examined the relationship between perceived school climate norms of equality, and in turn perspective-taking on two forms of constructive contributions amongst youth in England: civic engagement and collective action intentions in support of refugees. A total of 696 youth (aged 11 to 12) were asked to complete a survey in school as part of a larger study on youth interaction experiences. Bootstrapped mediation analysis conducted in Mplus found that perspective-taking mediated the link between perceived school climate norms of equality and both collective action intentions and civic engagement. Findings highlight the importance of facilitating school equality norms for promoting perspective taking and, in turn, constructive engagement. This may have implications for teacher training programmes as well as school-based interventions that aim to engage youth in society.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	433-452
Number of pages	20
Journal	Psicologia Sociale
Volume	20
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1482/118883
Publication status	Published - Sept 2025

Keywords

civic engagement
collective action
perspective-taking
school diversity climate
youth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1482/118883

Author accepted manuscriptAccepted author manuscript, 481 KBLicence: CC BY

https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.1482/118883

Cite this

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abstract = "Schools can play a crucial role in encouraging young people to make constructive societal contributions that transcend group lines and that benefit communities more generally. Recognising this potential, the present research examined the relationship between perceived school climate norms of equality, and in turn perspective-taking on two forms of constructive contributions amongst youth in England: civic engagement and collective action intentions in support of refugees. A total of 696 youth (aged 11 to 12) were asked to complete a survey in school as part of a larger study on youth interaction experiences. Bootstrapped mediation analysis conducted in Mplus found that perspective-taking mediated the link between perceived school climate norms of equality and both collective action intentions and civic engagement. Findings highlight the importance of facilitating school equality norms for promoting perspective taking and, in turn, constructive engagement. This may have implications for teacher training programmes as well as school-based interventions that aim to engage youth in society.",

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AU - Di Bernardo, Gian Antonio

AU - Vezzali, Loris

PY - 2025/9

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KW - perspective-taking

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KW - youth

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Perceived school climate norms of equality, perspective-taking and youth collective and civic actions

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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