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Cited by 262Intergenerational and Educational Inequality StudiesIncome, Poverty, and InequalitySocial and Cultural Dynamics

Income Inequality and Class Divides in Parental Investments

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Schneider, Daniel, Hastings, Orestes P., LaBriola, Joe·2018·American Sociological Review
DOI 10.1177/0003122418772034

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Abstract

Historic increases in income inequality have coincided with widening class divides in parental investments of money and time in children. These widening class gaps are significant because parental investment is one pathway by which advantage is transmitted across generations. Using over three decades of micro-data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and the American Heritage Time Use Survey linked to state-year measures of income inequality, we test the relationship between income inequality and class gaps in parental investment. We find robust evidence of wider class gaps in parental financial investments in children—but not parental time investments in children—when state-level income inequality is higher. We explore mechanisms that may drive the relationship between rising income inequality and widening class gaps in parental financial investments in children. This relationship is partially explained by the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution in state-years with higher inequality, which gives higher-earning households more money to spend on financial investments in children. In addition, we find evidence for contextual effects of higher income inequality that reshape parental preferences toward financial investment in children differentially by class.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0003122418772034

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76 of 76 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Monetary investments are diverging between families at different places along the income scale.

    “monetary investments are likewise diverging between families at different places along the income scale (Corak 2013;Kornrich and Furstenberg 2012;Schneider, Hastings, and LaBriola 2018”

    From Educational Inequality* (2022) · cites this paper as Schneider, Hastings, and LaBriola 2018

  • Corak (2013), Kornrich and Furstenberg (2012), and Schneider, Hastings, and LaBriola (2018) observe a large increase in the gap in spending on children between high- and low-income households from the 1970s to the 2000s.

    “Corak (2013), Kornrich and Furstenberg (2012), and Schneider, Hastings, and LaBriola (2018) observe a large increase in the gap in spending on children between high-and low-income households from the 1970s to the 2000s.”

    From Educational Inequality* (2022) · cites this paper as Schneider, Hastings, and LaBriola (2018)

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Authors
Schneider, D., Hastings, O. P., & LaBriola, J.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • Colorado State University (US)
Corresponding author
Schneider, Daniel
ORCID
Venue
American Sociological Review
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2018-05-21
Volume
83
Issue
3
Pages
475-507
ISSN
  • 0003-1224 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-8271
DOI
10.1177/0003122418772034
OpenAlex
W2803425653
Cited by
262
References
78
Citations by year
2026: 29 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 3
FWCI
52.33
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • American Sociological Review (publishedVersion)
  • SocArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Open Science Framework
Funders
  • Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (1106400)
  • Russell Sage Foundation (83-17-15)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Income, Poverty, and Inequality
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Cultural Dynamics
Keywords
income inequality, parental investment, class division, contextual effects, parental preferences

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