Article summary with An interactionist perspective on the socioeconomic context of human development by Conger & Donnellan - 2007

What is socioeconomic status?

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a construct that captures various dimensions and is multifaceted in nature. It is defined as an individual’s location in multiple environmental hierarchies, usually involving economic resources (financial capital), educational achievement (human capital, knowledge, and skills), and occupational status (social capital, connections to and the status and power of individuals in one’s social network). Each aspect of SES may have independent influence on how children are raised and how they develop over time.

How is socioeconomic status related to human development?

There is a lot of research into the correlates of socioeconomic status. Research indicates that more socially and economically disadvantaged adults and children are at risk for physical, emotional, and behavioral problems. There are associations between poverty and mental health, SES and cognitive development, and social class position and physical wellbeing. The influence of SES on children may result from the actions of parents. SES is associated with family socialization practices and the health and well-being of children. What is not clear, is the causal relationship of these correlations.

What is the social causation view of socioeconomic influence?

The social causation perspective argues that social conditions lead to variations in social, emotional, cognitive, and physical functioning. It states that social position influences the lives of individuals across time and that socioeconomic disadvantage has negative consequences for adults and children. Two theories within this perspective are the family stress model of economic hardship (FSM) and the family investment model (FIM).

What is the family stress model of economic hardship?

The FSM proposes that financial difficulties have an adverse effect on parents’ emotions, behaviors, and relationships, which in turn negatively influence their parenting strategies. This model links socioeconomic disadvantage to a family stress process that increases parents’ emotional distress and jeopardizes the healthy development of children.

What is the family investment model?

The FIM looks at the ways that parents invest financial, social, and human capital to promote the talents and wellbeing of their children. It links parents’ socioeconomic advantage to children’s physical, emotional, cognitive, and social wellbeing. The model proposes that parents with higher income and more educational attainment will make greater interpersonal and material investments in their children’s development than parents with lower SES that are forced to focus on immediate needs.

What is the social selection view of socioeconomic influence?

The social selection perspective argues that the traits and dispositions of parents influence their social status and the health and well-being of their children. Individual differences facilitate the accumulation of social advantages and are transmitted from parents to children. Positive characteristics of parents reduce exposure to economic hardship and pressure, decrease the likelihood of parent emotional distress and interparental conflict, foster involved parenting and nurturing, and lead to greater child wellbeing. This view believes that the correlations between SES, family stress processes, and child wellbeing will be reduced once controlled for positive parental characteristics.

What is the noneconomic parental resources perspective?

The noneconomic parental resources perspective is an example of a theory within the social selection view. It proposes that parental characteristics that employers value and are willing to pay for (like skills, honesty, good health, diligence, reliability) also improve children’s life chances, independent of their effect on parents’ income. Children of parents with these attributes do well even when their parents don’t have much income.

Why is there a need for an integrative model of socioeconomic influence?

On the one hand, the social causation model places too little emphasis on the role of individual differences and human agency. On the other hand, the social selection model minimizes the role that socioeconomic circumstances may play in the lives of parents and children. Recently, studies have found support for a dynamic interplay between social position and life-course development:

• Low SES in a child’s family of origin predicts lower academic achievement and continuing life stress during childhood and adolescence.

• Low SES in the family of origin predicts adverse economic and related life circumstances for adolescents.

• Antisocial youths experience lower educational attainment, which in turn increases their risk for further antisocial behavior as young adults. Both the SES and ongoing behaviors of these young adults affect the development of their children.

What is the interactionist model of socioeconomic influence?

The interactionist perspective argues that the association between SES and human development involves a dynamic interplay between social causation and social selection. It proposes an ongoing reciprocal relationship between the characteristics of individuals and the broader socioeconomic environments in which they live. Individual attributes influence a person’s social and economic position in a reciprocal process within and across generations. The following relations are hypothesized in the model:

• Positive personal characteristics (e.g. persistence, social competence, ambition) are positively related to (future) SES and the investments made in their children.

• A direct positive path from personal parental characteristics to child wellbeing. This could occur biologically through genes or the intrauterine environment or via social learning processes.

• Social and cognitive skills reduce the occurrence of SES-related family stressors.

• Low SES leads to less parental investment, affecting the child’s emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and physical wellbeing.