Young people's poverty attributions: The role of demographic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial factors in the Dutch context

Abstract

Young people's poverty attributions – beliefs about why people are poor – remain largely unexamined in empirical research, despite young people's emerging societal influence, creative thinking, and solidarity among peers. Using MANOVA, we assessed how demographic (age, gender, ethnicity), socioeconomic (parental financial worries, parental and own education), and psychosocial factors (executive control, autonomy, trust in government, altruism) relate to individualistic (e.g., lack of effort), societal (e.g., inequality), and fatalistic (e.g., bad luck) poverty attributions. Among 327 young people in Rotterdam, the Netherlands (M = 19.2, SD = 2.90; ages 12–30; 67.3 % female), fatalistic attributions were most common. Individualistic attributions were stronger among males, those with lower education, multiple ethnicities, or higher trust in government. Societal attributions were stronger among those with financially worried parents, higher altruism, or lower trust in government. Fatalistic attributions were stronger among older youth, females, those with more autonomy, less executive control, or less trust in government. Poverty exposure moderated many associations, and stronger individualistic and fatalistic attributions correlated with warmer feelings toward right-wing parties. Fatalistic beliefs may foster apathy toward poverty, contrasting with youth activism on climate change and racism. Future research should examine how these attributions shape policy attitudes.