Income inequality and the developing child: Is it all relative?

Abstract

Children from low-income families are at heightened risk for a number of poor outcomes, including depression, antisocial behavior, poor physical health and educational failure. Growing up in poverty is generally seen as toxic for children’s development. However, less is known about how the “economic distance” between children and their peers influences behavior and health. This paper examines how both poverty and the growing divide between low-income children and their peers may be influencing low-income children’s life chances. Among wealthy nations, children growing up in countries with higher levels of income inequality consistently fare worse on multiple indices of health, educational attainment and wellbeing. Although evidence has been mixed, new research suggests that low-income children may be experiencing worse outcomes, and a form of “double disadvantage”, when they live and attend school alongside more affluent versus similarly positioned peers. The role that subjective social status (SSS) may play in understanding why some low-income children appear to be suffering in the shadow of wealth is explored, alongside a call for additional research focused on how children come to understand, and respond to, their perceived social status.

Adolescents’ Subjective Social Status Predicts Day‐to‐Day Mental Health and Future Substance Use

“…Although past research (Goodman et al., ) and theory (Odgers, ) suggest that associations of SSS with mental health and problem behavior may differ by age, reflecting the developmental calibration of social status perceptions across adolescence, we found no evidence that SSS associations with mental health and substance use differed by age in our sample. The reasons for this are not clear, but may have to do with the developmental timing of the assessments and the truncated range of ages (11–15), and a smaller sample size than what has been seen in previous tests (Goodman et al., ), as our study focused on gathering a high number of daily observations from a relatively small sample of adolescents selected to be at risk for mental health problems.…”

“…With regard to intervention efforts, our results are consistent with the idea that youth living in low‐SES contexts who perceive themselves as “poor” in relation to others may experience a form of “double disadvantage” (Odgers, ). Among adolescents already at risk for mental health problems and living in low‐income neighborhoods, SSS predicted day‐to‐day mental health problems and future risk for substance use, both of which decreased with each step up the SSS ladder.…”

Moving Beyond Correlations in Assessing the Consequences of Poverty

“…Heberle & Carter (2015) further suggest that the developmental task of forming a sense of self in relation to others may make poor children’s anxiety derived from social status especially harmful during middle childhood and adolescence. Similarly, Odgers (2015) argues that low-income children attending schools with affluent peers may be doubly disadvantaged because they are directly affected by both their families’ poverty and upward social comparisons that will negatively shape their internal attributions, behavior, and health. Odgers et al (2015) argue that low-income children who are not exposed to as many affluent peers will not experience the harmful effects of upward comparison.…”

Economic Inequality is Associated with Long‐Term Harm on Adolescent Well‐Being in China

“…Much of the research on income inequality has focused on its harmful effects on well-being among adults (Dolan, Peasgood, & White, 2008;Oishi, Kushlev, & Schimmack, 2018;Pickett & Wilkinson, 2015b). However, it remains unclear whether income inequality would be related to well-being among children and adolescents (Odgers, 2015). Moreover, in terms of methodology, majority of the existing studies on inequality and well-being have used either cross-sectional or repeated cross-sectional designs (Elgar, Gari epy, Torsheim, & Currie, 2017) which prevents the formation of strong inferences.…”