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Inequality Begins at Home: The Role of Parenting in the Diverging Destinies of Rich and Poor Children

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Families in an Era of Increasing Inequality

Part of the book series: National Symposium on Family Issues ((NSFI,volume 5))

Abstract

Children face very different chances of getting ahead in life depending on the circumstances of their birth. Parenting and its role in the diverging destinies of rich and poor children are discussed in this chapter. Inequality begins at home. It develops from the myriad differences in the ways advantaged and disadvantaged parents interact with their children. Traditional policy interventions fail to attack the root cause of achievement gaps. To equalize the playing field, governments may need to invest in parents so parents can better invest in their children. Unfortunately, large-scale parenting interventions typically yield modest effect sizes at best and often do not even change children’s skills in the long term. Understanding what motivates parents to invest in their children could have a major impact on the design of policies to reduce inequality in children’s skill development. Insights from the field of behavioral economics can inform this question.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Greg Duncan, Susan Mayer, and Rebecca Ryan for comments on this chapter and for numerous discussions that shaped the ideas herein.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Human Potential and Public Policy, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Ariel Kalil

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  1. Ariel Kalil
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Correspondence to Ariel Kalil .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Criminology, The Pennsylvania State Univeristy, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Paul R. Amato

  2. Department of Sociology and Criminology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alan Booth

  3. Social Science Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Susan M. McHale

  4. Population Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Jennifer Van Hook

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Kalil, A. (2015). Inequality Begins at Home: The Role of Parenting in the Diverging Destinies of Rich and Poor Children. In: Amato, P., Booth, A., McHale, S., Van Hook, J. (eds) Families in an Era of Increasing Inequality. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08308-7_5

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