The economic divide between the rich and the poor is more visible than ever. Rich kids
of instagram swipe to kids sitting in crumbling schools, and American child obesity sits in
a feed with crazy movie-star child rearing… but it seems to me we're missing an angle
here…
America is the land of opportunity, and yet, there's a larger economic class divide today
than any time since… well EVER. It's the widest ever according to a Pew Research report.
How does that affect us? We have very poor kids and very rich kids and they're living
completely different and separate lives. Lots of research has been done on how poverty affects
the brain, how the behaviors of poor parents can negatively affect offspring and on and
on. Researchers love to study the poor, but we are ALL products of our environment and
if poor kids are affected by being poor, what happens to the rich?
Stereotypes of the rich and poor abound. Poor are lazy, rich work hard, poor are dumb, rich
are smart, poor use drugs rich… well actually rich use drugs too. A 2001 study in the American
Journal of Public Health found, quote "drug use is equally distributed across poor, middle
class, and wealthy communities" But stereotypes are just that, in reality, the Economic Policy
Institute found poor families worked more hours than rich families in the boom years
of the 1990s, because they needed two or more jobs to reach similar income levels.
Studies on rich kids seem to be less common, but those that are there seem kind of "no
duh" science. Seven studies out of the University of Michigan found "upper-class" individuals
were more likely to break the law while driving, take valued goods from others, cheat to win
a prize, endorse unethical behavior at work, and exhibit unethical decision-making. And
then in a separate study, they found wealthier people are more likely to think "greed is
justified, beneficial, and morally defensible." Which all fits with our rich-stereotypes when
stories come out that found Long Island families paying stand-ins as much as 3500 dollars to
take SAT tests for their kids.
Of course, the SAT doesn't even really matter for rich kids according to an an economics
study from the Russell Sage Foundation. Because even the best performing poor kids will only
find themselves neck-in-neck with high school dropout rich kids. Yep, rich kids can drop
out of high school and perform as well as a poor college graduate.
So why do rich kids do better? Time and money. Parents can spend more time with their children,
and will talk to them, on average, three hours more per week, and of course, the parents
have resources to protect and foster these kids -- for example, 1 percenters can inherit
the family business or wealth -- degree, diploma, or not. Plus, they can spend money on 'enrichment
activities,' and DO with spending going up 151 percent from 1972 to 2006.
Though rich kids can graduate from college debt free, they'll have a lower GPA on average,
according to a 2013 study published in the American Sociological Review. Though afterwards
they can use family connections to gain internship positions and tap family resources for supplemental
income and down-payments on real estate.
Though, a new study from Cornell, using the National Center for Education Statistics found
the rich DO give back in a more indirect way… because they tend to study Visual and Performing
Arts, English, History, Communications, Economics, Politics, Mathematics, Biology and Sociology
because they're not driven by economic incentive.
Even though a lot of research finds rich kids might be kind of awful, some will contribute
to society in important ways! For example, the decades-long National Longitudinal Study
of 12,000 people found artists tend to come from rich families, making 35 percent less
than their parents! While doctors usually best their parents incomes by more than 40
percent -- because they come from poorer families!
Are you a rich kid? We want to hear from you! What do you think of these studies?
I'd still be slinging salad and breadsticks in mid-Michigan to get by.