During a family picnic, somehow the topic shifted to what you are learning in college and the study of child and adolescent development. In discussing the contexts of development, one of your cousins makes the point that the issue of socioeconomic status in the United States is over rated. Your cousin argues that educators and researchers have exaggerated the impact of poverty on children and

Question

schooling. How might you respond to your cousin's point of view based on what you have learned in Woolfolk and Perry's book on Child and Adolescent Development?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Suggested Response: In addition to culture, social class, ethnicity, and race, socioeconomic status is considered to be one of the contexts of development that impacts children's lives. Socioeconomic status (SES) is a term often used by sociologists and psychologists to describe an index that combines the factors of wealth, power, control over resources, and prestige. SES is considered to be a more robust indicator of development compared to income alone. SES impacts a person's type of occupation, level of educational attainment, home ownership, access to health care, and extent to which the individual has political power. You could persuade your cousin that SES does in fact impact children and their families' lives.