Lecture 19: Growing up Poor vs. Rich

Question 1

Martha Farah’s indicators of growing up poor

Answer 1

• Don’t own a home
• Move frequently
• Single parent
• Live with relatives
• Public assistance
• Food stamps
• Charity clothes
• Exposure to violence and drugs

Question 2

impact of growing up poor on kids

Answer 2

• Growing up poor can be unpredictable, dangerous, and highly stressful
• Poverty and stress are associated with brain impairments

Question 3

did Koestner grow up poor?

Answer 3

Koestner used to think he grew up poor but now he understands that he didn’t

Question 4

Farah on impoverished kids making it to university

Answer 4

Farah argues that if you grow up in an impoverished family, it’s almost impossible to develop the cognitive skills to make it to university

Question 5

Appalachians

Answer 5

a poor area in the U.S.

Question 6

Appalachians video

Answer 6

• Follows a girl named Courtney, whose mother used to be a drug addict
• The family struggles to afford food and lives off of food stamps
• Her 2-year-old sister drinks Coke because they can’t afford milk for her
• The children feel unsafe
• 12 family members live together under one roof

Question 7

prevalence of poverty in the U.S.

Answer 7

About 12.5% of families in the U.S. are eligible for welfare and food stamps

Question 8

allostatic load

Answer 8

the biological impact of stress

Question 9

Farah’s babysitters observation

Answer 9

• Farah hired babysitters for her children, many of whom were single moms themselves
• Farah’s children were developmentally similar to her babysitter’s at age 2
• By the time they were 4, there were noticeable differences
• By the time they were 6, there were striking differences
• Farah hypothesized that this was due to allostatic load; that the number of years you spend living in poverty neuropsychological and behavioural outcomes, including school achievement

Question 10

IQ and SES

Answer 10

There is a 15-point IQ difference (1 standard deviation) that emerges by the age of 7 between rich and poor children

Question 11

executive functioning

Answer 11

has to do with memory and self-control

Question 12

Farah’s poverty and psychological developments study findings

Answer 12

• Farah found that a 10-year-old who has been in poverty for 6 years vs. one who has been in poverty for 3 years show significant differences in neuropsychological development
• As they get older, the children show differences in deviant behaviour

Question 13

what is the most likely explanation for Farah’s findings?

Answer 13

parenting (supporting vs. ignoring children’s basic needs)

Question 14

two growth processes according to self-determination theory

Answer 14

• Intrinsic motivation
• Internalization

Question 15

three necessary conditions for intrinsic motivation & internalization

Answer 15

• Connected
• Competent
• Autonomous

Question 16

context and need satisfaction

Answer 16

Context can support vs. thwart the satisfaction of these needs

Question 17

two parenting mistakes

Answer 17

under-parenting and over-parenting

Question 18

parenting mistakes and SES

Answer 18

• Under-parenting tends to occur in poor families
• Over-parenting tends to occur in wealthy families

Question 19

scaffolding

Answer 19

A process in which teachers model how to solve a problem, and then step back, offering support as needed

Question 20

function of scaffolding

Answer 20

it helps children progress from co-regulation to self-regulation

Question 21

3 critical features of parental invovlement

Answer 21

• Child-centred
• Achievement oriented
• Responsibility training

Question 22

Child language study by Hart & Risley, 1995

Answer 22

• By age 4, professional kids have heard 45 million words
• Working-class kids have heard 26 million
• Welfare kids have heard 13 million

Question 23

issues with the child language study by Hart & Risley, 1995

Answer 23

• 9/10 of the welfare families were Black and may have been uncomfortable with a white researcher in their home, which is a confound
• Regardless, there are still significant differences

Question 24

picture books by age 5 study

Answer 24

• Professional families: 1500 hours
• Poor families: 20 hours

Question 25

when do psychological differences based on SES emerge?

Answer 25

• Around 6-9 months
• These differences get more pronounced with more years spent living in poverty

Question 26

the smokey mountain study

Answer 26

• A longitudinal of a poor North Carolina community in which family income was raised by casino royalties
• Found that kids in the families who received extra money had less behavioural problems and did better in school
• This points to a causal relationship

Question 27

what was the deciding factor in the great smokey mountain study?

Answer 27

• The deciding factor appeared to be the amount of time parents had to supervise their children
• Parents who moved out of poverty reported having more time to spend with their children

Question 28

takeaway of the great smokey mountain study

Answer 28

an economic shift can allow for more time and better parenting

Question 29

motivational risks of growing up wealthy

Answer 29

• Wealthy kids may experience over-parenting rather than under-parenting
• Their motivation becomes controlled
• Parents set highly demanding and pressuring goals that make kids feel alienated

Question 30

preschool parents video

Answer 30

• Wealthy parents in NYC are obsessed with getting their kids into “Baby Ivy” preschools
• They believe that getting their children into these preschools will eventually lead them to get into real Ivy League universities
• Parents get very disappointed if their kids don’t get in
• The admission processes involve parents writing essays about their families

Question 31

ego involvement

Answer 31

when feelings of self-worth depend on certain levels of good performance

Question 32

ego involvement in parents

Answer 32

• Their ego involvement can be transferred to a child’s attainments, especially when competition and responsibility are highlighted
• Parents are more achievement-oriented today than ever-before

Question 33

the traditional view of SES on childrens’ outcomes

Answer 33

• Wealthy kids have never been viewed as an at-risk population
• Poor children were seen as at-risk for behvaioural problems and educational failure

Question 34

Luthar’s SES and outcomes study method

Answer 34

Measured depression, anxiety, and substance abuse in large samples of teenagers from wealthy vs. middle class backgrounds

Question 35

Luthar’s SES and outcomes study findings

Answer 35

• Found that the wealthy children were significantly higher in depression, anxiety, and substance abuse than middle-class children
• Substance abuse suggests self-medication

Question 36

Luthar study mediating mechanisms

Answer 36

• Excessive parental pressure for achievement
• Isolation from parents

Question 37

dangers of hyper-parenting

Answer 37

“I just want to do what is best for my child” may transform into:
“I want my child to be the best.” and
“I want to be the best parent.”

Question 38

Bill Doherty on hyper-parenting

Answer 38

“Well-intentioned parents are acting like recreation directors on a turbo-charged cruise ship. Parents today have so many extracurricular activities on their household calendars that there’s little room for such family activities as dinners, vacations, weekend outings and visits to relatives.”

Question 39

CNN gymnastics clip

Answer 39

• Parents want to help their child be the best
• Too many parents push their kids at a young age

Question 40

key features of hyper-parenting

Answer 40

1. Ego-involvement in child’s goals
2. Micro-managing child’s development
3. Over-scheduling of enrichment activities

Question 41

being the child of immigrants means….

Answer 41

• Growing up faster
• Taking responsibility for your family
• Carrying the hopes and dreams of your family

Question 42

impact of growing up poor (summary)

Answer 42

involves underparenting, which leads to amotivation and a lack of intrinsic motivation

Question 43

impact of growing up rich (summary)

Answer 43

involves overparenting, which leads to anxiety, depression, and substance abuse

Question 44

best country for immigrants

Answer 44

Overall, Canada is the best country for immigrants because it encourages people to maintain their cultural identities