About this session

Thursday, 11:50 AM - 1:20 PM

Beliefs About Economic Inequality and Social Mobility Among Parents and Children in Diverse Cultural Contexts

Parents, children and youth’s beliefs about social and economic inequality and mobility have been under-investigated in developmental science research. This symposium focuses on socioeconomically, racially, and ethnically diverse samples within and outside the United States to present novel empirical evidence on children’s and parents’ beliefs about mobility and inequality. The first paper takes a mixed methods approach to examine parents’ beliefs on socioeconomic inequality and economic mobility and how parents from varying social classes accommodate and resist prevalent narratives when communicating these beliefs to youth. Paper two presents data from qualitative interviews with a sample of public housing residents to understand how parents and youth define success and social mobility, and what mechanisms are required to achieve success in a context of disadvantage. The third paper uses experimental methods to examine how parental mobility beliefs influenced parental decision making around time and monetary investments in their children’s futures. Lastly, paper four explores cross-cultural similarities and differences in children’s awareness of and explanations for disability-based disparities in social mobility in China and the U.S. As economic inequality continues to rise globally, findings from these papers highlight parents, children and youth’s views on social mobility and their perceptions on individual responsibility and structural processes that contribute to shaping these belief systems.

Paper #1
Title	“I want to… prevent[s] you from sliding back”: Parent’s Communication About Economic Mobility
Presenting author	Rashmita S. Mistry, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, United States

Paper #2
Title	Youth and Parent Perceptions of Social Mobility and Success in a Public Housing Community
Presenting author	Lindsay Lanteri, Boston College, United States

Paper #3
Title	Parents’ Beliefs in the “American Dream” Affect Their Investments in Children: Evidence from an Experiment
Presenting author	Rebecca Ryan, Ph.D., Georgetown University, United States

Paper #4
Title	Cross-cultural variation in 4- to 9-year-old children’s awareness of disability-based disparities in social mobility
Presenting author	Yuchen Tian, Boston University, United States

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Session chairs
Lindsay Lanteri, Boston College, United States; Dr. Jane Leer, Ph.D., , United States

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