The Development of the Conception of Socioeconomic Mobility in Children From Mexico and Spain

Abstract

The authors studied the developmental stages of children's understanding of upward socioeconomic mobility. They interviewed one hundred 6- to 14-year-old participants from Mexico and Spain and asked them about sources of wealth and factors related to socioeconomic mobility. Categorical analyses of the responses showed few age-related changes but noted some cross-national differences. A different analysis designed to identify levels of understanding showed a significant association between age and type of explanation of socioeconomic mobility. Overall, cross-national comparisons yielded similarities in children's developmental trends, and only slight differences were found with regard to cultural background. The present results contrast with those of studies conducted from the perspective of the social representation theory.

Rich man, poor man: Developmental differences in attributions and perceptions

“…Responses to the open-ended questions about reasons for wealth and poverty were largely consistent with prediction and with the findings of Leahy (1983) and others (e.g., Enesco & Navarro, 2003;Karniol, 1985). With age, children became more able to offer explanations of wealth and poverty, more likely to explain wealth in terms of having a job or a good job, and more likely to explain poverty in terms of not having a job/good job, lacking ability and/or education, and lacking an inheritance or help.…”

“…It should also be borne in mind that multiple statistical tests were conducted and that, therefore, some findings may be significant due to chance alone; the findings of the analysis of attribution-trait perception correlations in particular should be viewed as preliminary and in need of replication. In addition, children's explanations of wealth or poverty in terms of job status require further analysis to determine why children think differences in occupational status exist and how they construe the relationship between work and wealth (see Berti &Bombi, 1988, andEnesco &Navarro, 2003, for examples).…”

“…Although several previous studies detected no or only limited SES differences in reactions to rich and poor people (Baldus & Tribe, 1978;Enesco & Navarro, 2003;Shutts & Olson, 2011), others have found such differences, especially among adolescents (e.g., Emler & Dickinson, 1985;Furnham, 1982;Leahy, 1981Leahy, , 1983) and adults (Hunt, 2004). Thus, it should be borne in mind that the current findings were based primarily on White middle class children in the United States and that more research comparing children of different social classes and ethnic backgrounds, as well as children of different cultures, is needed.…”

“…Previous studies of attributions for wealth and poverty (e.g., Enesco & Navarro, 2003;Karniol, 1985;Leahy, 1981;Leahy, 1983) typically relied on open-ended questions rather than on structured or forced-choice questions. Because open-ended questions require more cognitive and linguistic ability, they tend to underestimate young children's knowledge and understanding (e.g., Ganea, Lillard, & Turkheimer, 2004;Miller & Bartsch, 1997).…”

Age Differences in Perceptions of Rich and Poor People: Is It Skill or Luck?

“…However, they generally could not explain why some people are richer than others. Nor can six‐year‐olds; they give fantasy responses about getting rich by finding gold or point to a connection between wealth and work but cannot explain it (Enesco & Navarro, ).…”