Trust in authority figures is crucial for adolescence – it influences willingness to cooperate, respect rules, and participate in civic life. While research has long shown that fair decision-making by authority figures strengthens trust in adults, less is known about how these mechanisms work during adolescence. It is unclear whether younger adolescents are able to take these aspects of authority decision-making into account and how their importance changes with age. This gap is filled by a new study by our INPSY Citizenship and Democracy team members, which examines how different elements of fair decision-making affect young people's trust in authorities across age groups and countries.
Jakub Brojáč, Jan Šerek, Lenka Štěpánková, and Jana Fikrlová participated in the study. Nearly 2,500 adolescents aged 11–19 from Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Serbia took part in the international experiment. Participants imagined two situations: a school administration's decision to ban mobile phones in classrooms and a government's decision on anti-epidemic measures. The individual variants varied in terms of
- whether the authority gave a voice to citizens or experts, or whether they did not take anyone else's opinions into account when making their decision,
- whether they transparently explained the reasons for their decision, and
- whether they offered a predictable framework for its implementation.
After each situation, respondents rated how much they would trust such an authority.
The results showed that all four aspects of fair decision-making were significantly related to how adolescents develop trust in authority figures. The strongest influence was transparency (i.e., a clear explanation of the reasons for the decision) and the opportunity to "have a voice," even if that voice did not directly change the decision. This was true not only for school authorities but also for government authorities. When authorities took into account the opinions of citizens or experts and openly shared arguments and facts, adolescents trusted them more.
The researchers did not find many differences between 11- and 19-year-olds. Even the youngest adolescents were sensitive to whether the authority gave space to other parties to express themselves and whether it explained its decisions. The results of the study therefore suggest that the ability to evaluate fair decision-making is not reserved for older people. More significant age differences appeared only in post-communist countries, where trust in authority is generally lower (the Czech Republic and Serbia). The influence of voice and transparency on trust tended to increase with age, especially in the context of government decisions. However, the overall picture is clear – even younger adolescents are sensitive to whether they are being treated fairly.
The study thus conveys an important message for schools and public institutions: building trust in authority does not begin in adulthood. Adolescents perceive and appreciate fair treatment. The authors add that if schools and governments want to promote trust and civic engagement among the younger generation, they should take young people's voices seriously and explain their actions clearly. If we want to raise engaged and civically active young people, it is not enough to just pass on rules to them – we need to show them that decision-making can be open, predictable, and fair.
Recommended citation:
Brojac, J., Šerek, J., Forstmeier, S., Đorđević, A., Ilić, V., Padoan, E., ... & Fikrlova, J. (2026). Building Trust in Governmental and Educational Authorities in Adolescence: A Comparison of Early, Middle, and Late Adolescents in Four European Countries. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 55(1), 211-225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-025-02297-3
Mgr. Jakub Brojáč
Team Citizenship and Democracy
brojac@mail.muni.cz
Many of our publications follow the principles of Open Science. We want to ensure that our studies are reproducible by other teams and are free to read.
Our goal is to
preregister
publish data materials
publicly available.
Sexuality remains an important part of life in middle and later age, yet this period is associated with a number of changes that can affect sexual desire and experience. Despite the importance of sexual well-being, people over 50 rarely seek professional help, and their experiences tend to be overlooked in research. A new study by Gabriela Gore-Gorszewska and Anna Ševčíková addresses this gap.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is one of the core tools of modern psychology, widely used to evaluate how psychological measurement instruments function. Despite its importance, CFA is often applied in an overly mechanical way. A new methodological study by Petr Palíšek and Edita Chvojka (INPSY), together with Anna Literová (IRTIS), warns that blind reliance on “magic” statistical cut-offs used to assess the quality of factor models – such as RMSEA or CFI – can lead to erroneous conclusions. In a clear and accessible tutorial, the authors demonstrate how model evaluation can be approached more thoughtfully and with a deeper understanding of what the data actually convey.
