Zand, D., Thomson, N., & Mann, B. (2011). Affluent Youth. Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer Publishing.
OVERVIEW
Among developmental scientists there has been a growing awareness for the need to study the relationship between contextual factors and child adaptation. A substantial body of research exists documenting the association between child development and socioeconomic status. Within the academic literatures there is a general consensus that children growing up in poor families tend to have worse physical and psychological health, greater frequency of behavioral problems, higher risk for drug and alcohol problems, and lower cognitive development and academic achievement than those who do not. Less, however, is known about youth at the opposite end of the socioeconomic spectrum: those who have grown up in affluent families. Whether, how and when wealth matters for child development has been largely an unexplored area of inquiry. Posited explanations for this research gap have included difficulties understanding and collecting data on wealth, as well as assumptions that affluent youth are a homogeneous group and at low risk for maladjustment. Over the last decade, a growing body of empirical research has begun to fill this gap, pointing to many similarities as well as important differences between the impoverished and their affluent counterparts.