Cumulative disadvantage and perceptions of unfair treatment

Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we examine how early life circumstances and hardships in young adulthood correlate with perceptions of unfair treatment, particularly as they relate to race/ethnicity. Building on cumulative disadvantage theory and integrating a structural oppression framework, we conceptualize unfair treatment as part of a broader life-course trajectory influenced by intersecting psychosocial and structural forces – such as parental, school and neighborhood context, poverty and health disadvantages. These disadvantages begin early in life and shape the transition to adulthood. Our analysis highlights that while racial/ethnic identity remains a key determinant of perceived unfair treatment, the effects are compounded by other psychosocial and structural factors. This study contributes to the sociological understanding of inequality by linking the accumulation of disadvantage to perceptions of discrimination, highlighting how systemic inequities shape lived experiences of unfairness.