Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Background Perceptions of economic inequality among adolescents are considered to influence and determine future social cohesion; however, they are not thoroughly examined in low- and middle-income nations, especially in South Asia. The situation in Bangladesh is particularly very problematic: the Gini coefficient increased to 0.499 in 2022, institutional trust was at a very low level, and a political revolution led by students broke out in July 2024. No previous research has investigated the ways in which Bangladeshi adolescents viewed economic inequality during this prerevolutionary era, and nothing has been done to quantify the ways in which sociopolitical and media-related factors mediate perceptions. Methods A cross-sectional survey across the whole country was developed with 3,917 school- and college-going adolescents (January–May 2024) using a multistage random sampling method. The scores on the Perceived Economic Inequality Scale (PEIS; α = 0.806) were divided into high, medium, and low. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify sociodemographic and sociopolitical predictors, and bootstrapped mediation analysis (PROCESS Macro, Model 4; 5,000 resamples) was used to test the possibility of institutional trust (judiciary, police, TV news, newspaper) mediating the gender-PEIS relationship. Results Most teens (52.9%) described high perceived economic inequality (mean PEIS = 19.5 ± 5.2; range 028). Urban residence (AOR = 8.14; 95% CI: 3.18–20.82; p < 0.001), rural residence (AOR = 2.21; 95% CI: 1.14–4.27; p = 0.018), and science-stream enrollment (AOR = 1.88; 95% CI: 1.52–2.34; p < 0.001) were the strongest predictors of high perception. Reduced trust in the judiciary and police was linked to increased perceived inequality. Trust in institutional and media sources completely mediated the impact of gender on PEIS. Conclusion In prerevolutionary Bangladesh, adolescents strongly perceived high economic inequality, which is influenced by urbanization, the academic setting, institutional distrust, and media consumption. Such results suggest specific policies to increase institutional accountability, media literacy, and structural disparities in education and civic life.</p>