The Relationship Between Adolescents’ Relative Deprivation and Future Self‐Continuity: The Roles of Belief in a Just World, Core Self‐Evaluation, and Urban‐Rural Differences

Despite extensive research on the influence of relative deprivation on adolescents’ psychological well‐being, its association with future self‐continuity among adolescents remains under‐researched. Moreover, few studies have investigated the predictive factors and mechanisms underlying future self‐continuity. According to the hypothesis of limited cognitive resources, this study delved into the internal mechanism between relative deprivation and future self‐continuity. Using a time‐lagged survey design, data from 706 Chinese adolescents were analyzed. The results indicated that: (1) there is a negative relationship between adolescents’ relative deprivation and future self‐continuity, and belief in a just world plays a mediating role in this relationship. (2) Core self‐evaluation moderates the relationship between adolescents’ relative deprivation and belief in a just world. Notably, these results are only observed in the urban adolescent group. These findings indicate the importance of enhancing belief in a just world and core self‐evaluation among urban adolescents, and highlight the need to rectify structural deficiencies among rural adolescents to mitigate the negative effects of relative deprivation.