Perceptions of Humanity: College Students on Homelessness
Initially focused on previous research regarding the demographics of the homeless population over the past three decades to develop a deeper understanding of issues homeless people face, a brief study was done to gather college students' beliefs regarding the homeless population and demographics of the students. It was found that ethnicity and political affiliation both had significant effects on the students' perceptions of homelessness. Beliefs in the causes of homelessness were effected by political affiliation. Ethnicity affected scores regarding students' willingness to affiliate with homeless individuals. Social Dominance Orientation scores also correlated negatively with Distributive Justice Beliefs of Others. No Significant difference was found in the mean scores of males and females across the sample population. A deeper understanding in the breakdown of students' ethnicities, political view points, and perceptions of homelessness in our area allows for a better foundation for the creation of an educational program to increase activism and volunteer efforts regarding homelessness.
Social Dominance Orientation, Distributive Justice Beliefs of Others, Homelessness, Political Affiliation, Ethinicity, Community Psychology, Psychology
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