To address economic inequalities, it is crucial to understand not only their impact on child wellbeing but also the beliefs that motivate children and adults to ignore, exacerbate, or challenge the status quo (Elenbaas et al., 2020). So far we know that children’s beliefs about social class, particularly stigmatizing stereotypes about the poor, emerge early in development (Mistry et al., 2021). What we do not yet know is where these beliefs come from. Many macro (e.g., societal, media) and micro (e.g., peer, family) contexts likely shape children’s thinking in this area (Elenbaas & Mistry, 2021). This pilot study focuses on parents’ contributions, and asks two primary research questions: (1) How do parents’ verbal and nonverbal messages about social class influence children’s developing beliefs about social class and economic inequality? (2) How do these social and cognitive processes differ across socioeconomically diverse families?
Developmental theories of stereotypes and prejudice have long recognized that children interpret environmental messages about social groups (Bigler & Liben, 2007; Rutland et al., 2010), but research in this area has often favored investigation of experimental influences over naturally occurring messages (e.g., from parents). Likewise, research in the areas of civic engagement and critical consciousness shows that families facilitate adolescents’ involvement with community issues (Diemer et al., 2021; Flanagan, 2013), but has not typically asked how children reason about society. This pilot study begins to bridge theoretical and developmental gaps by investigating the content, forms, and impact of parents’ contributions to children’s beliefs about social class and economic inequality. It focuses on parents and children ages five to 10 years, targeting an important developmental period when views on social class first emerge.
Family socialization research has typically employed parent self-report methods, but recent studies suggest that parents’ nonverbal cues (e.g., positivity, negativity) during in-the-moment conversations with their children may speak volumes about their beliefs about social groups (Brey & Pauker, 2019; Skinner & Perry, 2020). This pilot study uses a multi-method approach to investigate parents’ verbal and nonverbal messages about rich, poor, and middle class people during a storytelling activity. These novel research methods provide insight into the subtle and spontaneous ways in which parents convey biases to their children during everyday interactions.
Thus far, conceptual progress on understanding how family background influences developing views on social class has been limited due to persistent sampling imbalances in developmental social cognition research. This pilot study highlights perspectives that are often underrepresented by investigating whether and how parents’ messages and children’s beliefs about social class and economic inequality differ by family socioeconomic background. Moreover, consistent with the goals of the Early Career Research Grant in Developmental Psychology, this study provides crucial pilot data for a large longitudinal project, currently under review, addressing parents’ and children’s views on inequalities at the intersection of social class and race.
Understanding children’s thinking about economic inequalities is a new and growing area of research in our field. With clear evidence of parents’ contributions in this area, we will be better positioned to encourage greater consideration of equity early in development.
References
Bigler, R. S., & Liben, L. S. (2007). Developmental intergroup theory: Explaining and reducing children’s social stereotyping and prejudice. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(3), 162–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00496.x
Brey, E., & Pauker, K. (2019). Teachers’ nonverbal behaviors influence children’s stereotypic beliefs. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 188, 104671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104671
Diemer, M. A., Pinedo, A., Bañales, J., Mathews, C. J., Frisby, M. B., Harris, E. M., & McAlister, S. (2021). Recentering action in critical consciousness. Child Development Perspectives, 15(1), 12–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12393
Elenbaas, L., & Mistry, R. S. (2021). Distributive justice in society and among peers: 8- to 14 year-olds’ views on economic stratification inform their decisions about access to opportunities. Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001188
Elenbaas, L., Rizzo, M. T., & Killen, M. (2020). A developmental science perspective on social inequality. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(6), 610–616. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420964147
Flanagan, C. A. (2013). Teenage citizens: The political theories of the young. Harvard University Press.
Mistry, R. S., Elenbaas, L., Griffin, K. M., Nenadal, L., & Yassine, A. (2021). Advancing developmental intergroup perspectives on social class. Child Development Perspectives.
Rutland, A., Killen, M., & Abrams, D. (2010). A new social-cognitive developmental perspective on prejudice: The interplay between morality and group identity. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(3), 279–291. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610369468
Skinner, A. L., & Perry, S. (2020). Are attitudes contagious? Exposure to biased nonverbal signals can create novel social attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(4), 514–524. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167219862616