Childhood Poverty and the Transition to Adulthood

Abstract

The authors used the Panel Study of Income Dynamics 2007 Transition to Adulthood data in combination with the 2002 Child Development Supplement to examine social class bifurcation in young adulthood. Results indicate that poor youth possibly take on adult roles “too early” at the same time that high-income youth may be supported for a long period past their 18th birthday. Although not all evidence is consistent with this bifurcated story, childhood poverty does play a key role. Young adults from poor families establish financial independence early (e.g., contributing to family bills during adolescence, considering themselves fully responsible for their finances as young adults), whereas young adults from more affluent homes are more likely to receive financial transfers from their parents (who often help them pay for college and other expenses). These findings highlight the ways in which socioeconomic inequality in childhood can differentiate youth’s experiences of adolescence and young adulthood.

Impact of family income in early life on the financial independence of young adults: Evidence from a matched panel data

“…We followed the literature (Kendig et al, ; Letkiewicz & Fox, ) to delete observations with missing values. In the data cleaning process of TAS, we deleted observations with missing values in financial independence and self‐efficacy.…”

“…Lee and Mortimer () showed that a teenager's communication with parents regarding work helps foster economic self‐efficacy and then financial independence during the young adulthood. Kendig, Mattingly, and Bianchi () tested the influence of childhood poverty on the financial independence during young adulthood from the age 18 to 24 and found young adults from poor families achieve financial independence earlier. Rather than studying the effect of financial socialisation during the adolescence and poverty experience in earlier years, our study of young adults from the age 18 to 27 focuses on the relationship between the family income during adolescence and financial independence.…”

“…People coming from that perspective might say that young adults from wealthy backgrounds probably take their lifestyle for granted and thus do not have adequate skills, knowledge and especially an urgent need or pressure to be financially independent. As a result, young adults from families with better economic status are less likely to be financially independent (Kendig et al, ). Others argue that young adults from wealthy families are more likely to go to schools which are better equipped to prepare them for independent adulthood or schools with better reputations (Holme, ).…”

Ecology of Children's Career Development: A Review of the Literature

“…Research at the exosystem level has focused on the career development of children from poor social class. Although these children seem to present low academic aspirations and high risk for school dropout (Ferreira et al, 2007;Kendig et al, 2014;Oketch et al, 2012), academic achievement was found to buffer these effects (Schmitt-Wilson & Welsh, 2012). The identification of other protective factors can be useful to design interventions aimed at attenuating social differences in children's careers (Schultheiss, 2005).…”

“…Children from slum areas present lower academic aspirations than those from non-slum areas, being this difference also evident in parents' expectations for their offspring (Oketch et al, 2012). Children from poor families were also less likely to pursue college and more likely to become parents, start an independent life and help their families pay bills earlier in adulthood than children from richer areas (Kendig, Mattingly, & Bianchi, 2014). Mothers' and fathers' socioeconomic status are also negatively related to patterns of dropping out of school and positive associations with career expectations and engagement in career projects (Ferreira et al, 2007;Sobral et al, 2009).…”