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Published on: January 25, 2018
Intergenerational transmission of adaptive functioning: a test of the interactionist model of SES and human
Thomas J Schofield1, Monica J Martin, Katherine J Conger
1University of California, Davis, CA, USA. tomschofield@ucdavis.edu
Abstract:
The interactionist model (IM) of human development (R. D. Conger & M. B. Donellan, 2007) proposes that the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and human development involves a dynamic interplay that includes both social causation (SES influences human development) and social selection (individual characteristics affect SES). Using a multigenerational data set involving 271 families, the current study finds empirical support for the IM. Adolescent personality characteristics indicative of social competence, goal-setting, hard work, and emotional stability predicted later SES, parenting, and family characteristics that were related to the positive development of a third-generation child. Processes of both social selection and social causation appear to account for the association between SES and dimensions of human development indicative of healthy functioning across multiple generations.
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