The relationship of adult and childhood poverty with the individual psychological characteristics

Abstract

In this paper examines the effects of low socioeconomic status in adulthood and in childhood on psychological characteristics, such as individual values, self-efficacy, self-esteem, psychological well-being and trust. The sample included people with low socio-economic status (namely poors) (N=162) and non-poor (N=188). Measurement of children’s socio-economic status was carried out by retrospective assessment. The results showed that values and self-esteem differ depending on the adult SES. The results revealed the significant effect of adult and childhood SES for trust and life satisfaction. The analysis revealed that adult status had a significant impact on trust only in the groups of those who did not experience poverty in childhood, i.e. the group with average levels of wealth in childhood, and the wealthy group. In conclusion, our study revealed the impact of childhood and adult SES on various individual psychological characteristics.

Keywords

• SES
• environmental factors
• child poverty
• adult poverty
• self-efficacy
• self-esteem
• life satisfaction