Children's Perceptions of Economic Groups in a Context of Limited Access to Opportunities

Abstract

Children (N = 267, ages 8-14 years, M = 11.61 years, middle to upper-middle income) made predictions regarding groups of same-aged peers from high-wealth and low-wealth backgrounds. The context involved granting access to a special opportunity. From middle childhood to early adolescence children increasingly expected both high- and low-wealth groups to want access to opportunities for their own group. However, children viewed high-wealth groups as motivated in part by selfishness and low-wealth groups as concerned in part with broader economic inequality. Finally, the higher children's family income, the more they expected group-serving tendencies. These findings revealed children's perceptions of exclusive preferences between economic groups, negative stereotypes about high-wealth children, and awareness of some of the constraints faced by low-wealth children.

Children's and Adolescents’ Evaluations of Intergroup Exclusion in Interracial and Interwealth Peer Contexts

“…The idea that children and adolescents may perceive wealth to be an indicator of group exclusivity fits well with previous research relating wealth to status more generally (e.g., Olson, Shutts, Kinzler, & Weisman, 2012), and with recent studies indicating that children sometimes hold negative perceptions of high-wealth peers (Elenbaas & Killen, 2018). No distinctions were made, however, between highwealth European American groups and high-wealth African American groups in this context.…”

“…Regarding children's predictions of group exclusivity, we predicted that: (H1) with age, children would predict that high‐wealth groups, regardless of their race, would be more exclusive than lower wealth groups; (H2) with age, children would increasingly reference negative stereotypes about high‐wealth groups in justifying their perceptions, as recent studies have shown that the negative stereotypes associated with high‐wealth individuals may be especially salient in peer contexts (Elenbaas & Killen, ).…”

“…By 8 years of age, children have an emerging awareness of some of the factors contributing to wealth status (Bonn, Earle, Lea, & Webley, 1999;Leahy, 1981;Mistry, Brown, White, Chow, & Gillen-O'Neel, 2015;Shutts et al, 2016;Sigelman, 2012). Most often, children associate differing wealth statuses with the quantity of monetary resources an individual possesses, as well as with differing quality of material items (such as houses and cars) and access to opportunities (such as education, vacations, and summer camps; Bonn et al, 1999;Driscoll, Mayer, & Belk, 1985;Elenbaas & Killen, 2018;Mistry et al, 2015). Children also make assumptions about an individual's wealth group membership using physical appearance and levels of education (Ramsey, 1991;Sigelman, 2013).…”

“…In addition to categorizing themselves and others into wealth groups, children evaluate others based on their wealth group membership. Specifically, children hold stereotypes about wealthy and poor individuals related to character trait attributions or perceptions about the acquisition of wealth (Elenbaas & Killen, 2018;Mistry et al, 2015;Sigelman, 2012). During the transition from early childhood to early adolescence, children increasingly perceive members of high-wealth groups as competent, hardworking, and smart, while members of lowwealth groups are often associated with laziness and low ability (Leahy, 1981;Mistry et al, 2015;Sigelman, 2012;Woods, Kurtz-Costes, & Rowley, 2005).…”

Interwealth Contact and Young Children's Concern for Equity

“…Wealth is a continuum, yet children and adults tend to separate the spectrum into distinct groups and use labels like "rich," "middle class," and "poor" in daily life (Elenbaas & Killen, 2018;Kraus, Park, & Tan, 2017;Mistry, Brown, White, Chow, & Gillen-O'Neel, 2015;Stephens, Markus, & Phillips, 2014). For instance, young children identify individuals as rich or poor based on cues from their clothing and possessions (Chafel & Neitzel, 2005;Rauscher, Friedline, & Banerjee, 2017).…”