Social justice advocacy: the role of race and gender prejudice, injustice, and diversity experiences

Applying the Resource Model of Political Participation, this study extended the emerging research on trainees' social justice advocacy (SJA) by examining race and gender variables among 281 counselors-in-training. Although no racial and gender differences were found regarding trainees' SJA, we found significant race and gender differences in trainees' awareness of modern racism and sexism. Structural Equation Modeling revealed that exposure to racist and sexist events and participation in formal diversity experiences had significant links to SJA. Specifically, exposure to racist events and participation in formal and informal diversity experiences were negatively associated with color-blind racial attitudes. Exposure to sexist events was negatively linked to modern sexist beliefs. Implications for theory, training, and research are addressed.