Lecture 19 - Motivational effects of growing up poor vs. rich

Question 1

Prof feels he grew up in a poor family

Answer 1

-Immigrant parents, not very successful
-mom a knitter/seamstress, dad as carpenter
-if ripped jeans, put big grey patches on, kids called him patches

But had no right to say he grew up poor!
-Parents had bought a home
-Lived with both parents
-None of the things on the list by Martha Farah

Question 2

Martha Farah’s indicators of growing up poor

Answer 2

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

Unpredictable, dangerous, and
highly stressful

Example of Appalachia:
Poor white people
Mary and Courtney
Mom on drugs
House with 12 people
Food stamps, very little food
GED to try to get a job

Parenting is disrupted by poverty
Under/inadequate parenting
Sometimes overparented/hyperparented in wealthy families
Middle = best (according to prof)

Question 3

Recent research on poverty and children

Answer 3

Martha J. Farah
Had her kid be babysat by poorer women who would bring their kids as well… noticed that as kids got older, her daughter was way ahead developmentally than those kids
With study, found that:
The longer living in poverty, the more likely kids’ brain development will trail behind compared to peers

IQ Differences
 “allostatic load”: bio effects of stress
-Measured longitudinally
 yrs of living in poverty: the longer living in poverty, more effect on brain development
 Brain functioning
– Working memory
– Executive function
–= planning and inhibition problems so lead to externalizing problem behaviors (dropping out, fights, drugs, pregnancies…)
– Language abilities

To develop well neurobiologically, .. but also important to develop well motivationally (according to prof)

Question 4

Self-Determination Theory: Some key concepts

Answer 4

 Two Growth Processes:
– Intrinsic Motivation
–kids are curious, wanna learn
Start serving and volleying, get them more and more interested (ex: reading them stories with books even though they’re really young… to get them interested in reading)
– Internalization
 Three necessary conditions
– Connected (RELATEDNESS)
– Competent (COMPETENCE)
– Autonomous (AUTONOMY)
–Giving kids autonomy does not mean neglect
 Contexts can support versus thwart the satisfaction of these
needs
-No structure in the Appalachian example
Parents are not providing structure and scaffolding needed to regulate yourself

Question 5

Scaffolding

Answer 5

 Scaffolding
– a temporary structure used to
support a work crew.
– a process in which teachers
model how to solve a problem,
and then step back, offering
support as needed.

Basically, parents/teachers/etc. need to provide a solid base, structure, to support the kids’ development

Question 6

Families and the development of expertise

Answer 6

 Parental involvement
 3 critical features:
– Child-centered
– Achievement oriented
– Responsibility training

Unfortunately, very hard for parents to do when they are poor. Don’t have the time and resources to parent adequately.

Child language study by
Hart & Risley 1995;
Age 4:
Professional: 45 mill words heard
Working Class: 26 mill words heard
Welfare: 13 mill. words heard

Picture books by age 5:
Professional families 1500 hrs.
Poverty families 20 hrs

Question 7

Would greater income make a
difference?

Answer 7

 Longitudinal study
of poor North
Carolina community
in which family
income was raised
by casino royalties
 Journal of American
Medical Association
2003
 8-year study of
1400 children.

Great improvement in kids’ development after those indigenous families received money from implanting a casino
When these families were living more comfortably, gave them more time and resources to parent adequately

A causal relationship?
 ‘‘This comes closer to pointing to a causal
relationship than we can usually get. Moving
families out of poverty led to a reduction in
children’s behavioral symptoms.’’
 Dr. E. Jane Costello, a psychiatric
epidemiologist at Duke who was the lead
author

The mediating mechanism?
 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.
 ‘‘What this shows very nicely is that an economic
shift can allow for more time and better parenting,’’
said Dr. Nancy Adler, professor of medical
psychology at the UCSF

Not geographically determined in the states

Question 8

What are the motivational risks of
growing up in a wealthy family?

Answer 8

 Over-parenting rather than under-parenting? yes
 Controlled motivation rather than no motivation? yes, micromanaging
 Highly demanding and pressuring goals from
which you feel alienated (rather than no
meaningful goals that seem realistic versus)
-competitive way

Danger: child feels controlled, pushed, pressured
May become alienated from parents

Preschools “little Ivys” (2 year olds)
Taking it way too seriously

Culture differences:
-Americans more intense in parenting
-Quebec least in Canada, more like Europe (relaxed)

Generational differences:
Over-parenting has increased
Perfectionism has increased
Anxiety and depression also (and starts earlier and lasts longer)
More vulnerable to internalizing disorders (whereas more externalizing for poorer families)

Question 9

Distinguishing Different Forms of
Involvement , Grolnick 2002

Answer 9

But parents should be involved!
Just not good when ego-involvement (parents’ s-e depends on how child performing)

 Ego-involvement – feelings of self worth depend on
certain levels of good performance.
 Can be transferred to child’s attainments, especially
when competition and responsibility are highlighted.
 “Your role is to ensure your child learns to write a
poem. We will be testing her after to make sure that
she performs well enough”
-Saying “you’re responsible” for how kid does, tricks them into ego-involvement

Parents from wealthy areas more likely to use ego-involvement

Micro-managing child’s development: ex: Manhattan parents and putting kids into sign language classes before they could speak to give them an advantage and because worried of when kid starts to speak

Hyper-Parenting Rosenfeld (2000)
 “I just want to do what is best for my child”
 May transform into:
 “I want my child to be the best” &
 “I want to be the best parent”
Example with gymnastics:  Wanting to help the
child to be the best.

Question 10

How do children of wealthy families
turn out?

Answer 10

 Luthar (2003) article on “The Culture of Affluence: The
Psychological Costs of Material Wealth”
 Wealthy kids have never been viewed as an at-risk
population.
 Poor Children were seen as at-risk for behavioral
problems and educational failure.

 Large samples of teenagers from wealthy vs middle
class backgrounds.
 Depression
 Anxiety
 Substance Abuse
 Pattern of substance abuse suggests self-medication

Wealthy families will vary, whereas poor families don’t really

Why?
Mediating Mechanisms
 Excessive parental pressure for achievement.
– Parents emphasize accomplishments versus
character and well being.
 Isolation from parents
– Absence of adult supervision;
– Degree of felt closeness with m & f

Question 11

Key Features of Hyper-Parenting

Answer 11

1. Ego-involvement in child’s goals. (my kid must be the best)
2. Micro-managing child’s development. (ex: ASL classes before can speak)
3. Over-scheduling of enrichment activities.
    “Well-intentioned parents are acting like
   recreation directors on a turbo-charged
   cruise ship,” he notes. 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 12

To be the child of immigrants means

Answer 12

growing up faster
taking responsibility for your family
carrying the hopes and dreams of your family