Whereas poverty and riches may not be a genetic trait that is transferable from generation to generation, the trend of the offspring of the well of remaining well of or even getting better and the poor getting poorer or remaining in the lower echelons of society is one that cannot be ignored (Hosseini et al., 2006). Ordinarily, a success in adulthood is a direct result of proper development in childhood and adolescence (Conger, Rueter & Conger, 2000). From the foregoing, it seems that the development of children is adversely affected cognitively, behaviorally and in social competence by the social economic situations of their parents thus hindering their capacity to break their social class ceiling. The influence of the SES on the development of the children is a third generational influence that comes because of the influence of SES on the individual that graduates to the family unit and extends to the development of the adolescent children.
Social Economic Status (SES)
As the name literally suggests, SES is the subtotal of the social and economic rank of an individual or a family as established by assessing the individual’s income, academic or vocational qualifications and occupation (Hosseini et al., 2006). Ordinarily, this set of circumstances will place the individual or a family into a niche known as social class. In the contemporary setting, the social classes include the underclass, the working poor, the middle class, and the upper class ranging from the lowest to the highest class (Mcloyd, 1990; Yoder, 2005). When looking at SES from a family perspective, the scope broadens to include the total income from the members of the society as well as the total expenditure. The income may increase if more members are working but this increase may be countermanded by the expenditure, which may be augmented by the number or direct dependents or a special need prevalent upon one or more of the dependents, which drains more funds.
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Social Economic Status Influence on the Individual
The initial effect of a low SES is in the inability to meet the basic and secondary needs. While this may be easier for a single person, the situation becomes augmented when this individual exists within a family unit in a matriarchal or patriarchal position that makes them an anticipated provider for the larger family unit. The desire to meet these basic and secondary needs will push the individual from financial train to reliance on credit, which will in turn lead to debt stresses. The progression of this stresses will lead to irritability, depression, and related ailments like ulcers and poor mental health. A vicious cycle develops where the effects of being in a lower class affects the capacity to work and may easily lead the individual from the working poor class to the underclass (Hosseini et al., 2006).
Social Economic Status Influence on the Family Unit
Normally, the family unit will have a parent or parents and the children. The factors listed in the individual unit above will have a direct influence on the family unit. There is the direct stress emanating from the lack of basic and secondary amenities with compromises having to be made on the secondary amenities such as healthcare and education (Yoder, 2005). For example, when everyone has to worry about food, clothing, and shelter, secondary needs like education and healthcare may out of necessity be ignored (Hosseini et al, 2006).
Further, as the stress from financially related issues continue to affect the individual, their irritability and aloofness will definitely affect the family units leading to differences, fights or even the eventual breakup of the family unit. Research clearly shows that divorce is predominantly higher in the lower class units and is mainly occasioned by financial issues (Yoder, 2005). Further, when divorce happens in the lower class families, it has a greater negative affect on the family members, more so the children than in the higher class families.
Social Economic Status Influence on the Development of the Adolescents
It is equivocal that influence of SES on the individual and on the family unit will eventually have a direct and indirect effect on children in general and the adolescent in particular (Hackman, 2009). The adolescent stage involves rapid development in three specific areas; the cognitive, the social and the emotional (Hosseini et al, 2006). These three dimensions of growth will greatly influence the nature of the adult that will arise out of the individual, since the adolescent age is the bridge between childhood and adulthood.
Cognitive Development
This refers to the development of the capacity to perceive, think, and understand. This is informally referred to as reasoning. From a psychological perspective, cognitive development happens when the genetic factors on the mind interact with the learned factors of the mind that come through the senses to generate the capacity or yardstick with which the individual processes information (Bradley & Crown, 2002). This form of development greatly influences the character of an individual. By the time a child reaches adolescent, cognitive development will have developed the capacity to think in concrete ways as in combination, separation, order, and transformation. From puberty to the end of adolescent, the individual is now cognitively developing abstract reasoning which is the capacity to think about possibilities, form new ideas or generate questions regarding fundamental issues of life, debate ideas and opinions and be aware of the existence of thought processes within.
As cognitive comes from the interaction between genetics, the genetic aspect of the adolescent and the data collected through the senses, the low SES child will collect data from a stressful perspective, data from living with stressed parents, poor living conditions, unfavorable healthcare, and academic circumstance, violence ,and other negative low SES related aspects (Hackman, 2009). This will have a major negative impact on the cognitive development of the adolescent and it may either retard it or occasion the development of negative character traits.
Social Development
Social development in adolescents is a direct consequence of their cognitive development and refers to the development of the way adolescents interact with individuals outside the family (Bradley & Crown, 2002). It is at the onset of adolescence that social relationships begin to graduate from acquaintances to friendship with the eventual consequences of environmental influences and peers pressure (Hackman, 2009). The adolescent will develop a desire to fit in and feel important within the social group. SES such as the environment has several influences on the social development of an adolescent (Bradley & Crown, 2002).
Most low SES families live in bad neighborhoods like slums or the infamous projects. The environment around this places tends more toward vices than virtues and towards evil than good (Leventhal, 2000; Hackman, 2009). As the adolescent grows socially and begins interacting, the social groups will influence the adolescent more towards vices live drugs, violence and crime for the boys and drugs, promiscuity with possibilities of prostitution for the girls (Bradley & Crown, 2002). The second SES influences of social development involve the relationship with the parent. The stressed and depressed status of the parent will make them either absent all together from the life of the adolescent during this sensitive stage or if present a negative or neutral influence thus allowing the negative environment to generate negative social development that more often than not will ruin or even end the life of the adolescent (Leventhal, 2000).
Emotional Development
This refers to the development of the experience, expression, understanding and regulation of emotion within and individual; it begins at childhood and augments during adolescence (Bradley & Crown, 2002). Whereas it was initially believed that the emotions of the adolescent ought to run wild as a matter of cause, this has actually been proven wrong by research (Conger, Rueter & Conger, 2000). It is the current set of circumstance that actually cause the emotions of the adolescent to grow into a whirlwind, with the advent of new quasi-romantic relationships, increased academic pressure at school, pressure from sporting activities and the constant interaction through social media (Bradley & Crown, 2002).
Emotional development is driven by a genetic capacity known as temperament, which can be low or high, premised on genetics. However, a low or high temperament shall be transformed during adolescence based in the environment and circumstances that the adolescent is in (Leventhal, 2000). The three basic agents that strengthen temperament are support, safety, and security. This is where SES comes in. The environment that a low SES family is forced to live in, the schools they will afford and the neighborhood they live in will almost always ensure the absence of and limited presence of these three factors (Hosseini Et al, 2006). Further, the stressed environment at home will also ensure the absence of parental support, and the absence of any feeling of safety or security leading to a poor temperament and poor emotional development in the adolescent (Bradley & Crown, 2002).
Conclusion
From the totality of the foregoing, an adolescent developing in a low SES will almost definitely have poor cognitive, social, and emotional development despite fervent efforts of both the adolescent and the parents (Conger, Rueter & Conger, 2000). Indeed, a low SES adolescent who achieves normal development is the exception rather that the norm. This set of circumstances have perpetuated the existence of low SES in the society alongside its consequences including crime, early mortality, drug problems, teenage pregnancy, and STDs. As it is impossible to get the adolescents out of their family unit, the only solution to this critical problem is to devise a way and means to eradicate poverty and move the lower SES classes up the SES class chain. It may be complicated and expensive but a federal policy that utilizes the trillions of dollars used to run the penal system, the rehabilitation centers, and the cure of diseases emanating from low SES problems needs to created. This will ensure that instead of handling its symptoms, the low SES communities can be uplifted and the problem solved or reduced.
References
Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual review of psychology, 53(1), 371-399.
Conger, K. J., Rueter, M. A., & Conger, R. D. (2000). The role of economic pressure in the lives of parents and their adolescents: the family stress model. In L. J. Crockett, & R. K. Silberiesen (Eds.), Negotiating adolescence in times of social change. (pp. 201-223). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hackman, D. A., & Farah, M. J. (2009). Socioeconomic status and the developing brain. Trends in cognitive sciences , 13(2), 65-73.
Hosseini, B., Nedjat, S., Zendehdel, K., Majdzadeh, R., & Montazeri, A. (2013). Re Vyas, S., & Kumaranayake, L. (2006). Constructing socio-economic status indices: how to use principal components analysis. Health policy and planning, 21(6), 459-468.
Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2000). The neighborhoods they live in: the effects of neighborhood residence on child and adolescent outcomes. Psychological bulletin , 126(2), 309.
McLoyd, V. C. (1990). The impact of economic hardship on black families and children: Psychological distress, parenting, and socioemotional development. Child development, 61(2), 311-346.
Yoder, K. A., & Hoyt, D. R. (2005). Family economic pressure and adolescent suicidal ideation: application of the family stress model. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 35(3), 251-264.
