Socioeconomic Status, Family Processes,and Individual Development

• Published in: Journal of marriage and family Vol. 72; no. 3; pp. 685 - 704
• Main Authors: Conger, Rand D., Conger, Katherine J., Martin, Monica J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2010; National Council on Family Relations; Wiley-Blackwell; Wiley
• Subjects: Adolescents; Adults; African American Family; Child Development; Children; Children & youth; Class; Economic models; Ethnic Groups; Evidence; Families & family life; Family; Family Income; Family Life; Family members; Family Structure; Family studies; Females; Financial Problems; General studies; History and organization of sociology; History and present state; History, theory and methodology; Individual Development; Individual Differences; Interpersonal Relationship; Marriage, Family Processes, and Well-Being; Methodological Problems; Modeling; Parent Child Relationship; Parent-child relations; Parenting; Parents; Poverty; Psychological stress; Quality of life; Race; Reference Materials; relationship processes; Research trends; Satisfaction; Social Class; Social conditions; Social Science Research; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomic Status; Sociology; Sociology of the family. Age groups; Unemployment; Unions; Wages; well-being; United States Of America; United States > US; Stability; Socioeconomic status; Social sciences; Couple; Satisfaction; Literature review; Scientific Research; Social Class; Family structure
• ISSN: 0022-2445; 1741-3737
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00725.x

Research during the past decade shows that social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is related to satisfaction and stability in romantic unions, the quality of parent-child relationships, and a range of developmental outcomes for adults and children. This review focuses on evidence regarding potential mechanisms proposed to account for these associations. Research findings reported during the past decade demonstrate support for an interactionist model of the relationship between SES and family life, which incorporates assumptions from both the social causation and social selection perspectives. This review concludes with recommendations for future research on SES, family processes, and individual development in terms of important theoretical and methodological issues yet to be addressed.