Parents’ Beliefs about Economic Mobility as Determinants of Human Capital Investment Strategies

High levels of economic inequality and declining economic mobility tend to weaken the human capital development of young people in many ways, including through psychological and behavioral processes. As people’s beliefs in the likelihood of economic mobility decline, their outlook and behaviors may shift in ways that reinforce inequality. The beliefs and behaviors of parents are likely to play a key, unexamined role in these dynamics. Psychologist Mesmin Destin and colleagues will conduct a series of correlational and experimental studies to investigate the extent to which parents’ beliefs about economic mobility influence their behaviors in ways that can reinforce or reduce inequality. The studies will include diverse samples of parents to examine the extent to which the proposed processes vary by race-ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES). First, the investigators ask whether and how parents’ mobility beliefs (i.e., their beliefs that their children will be better off than themselves) shape their attitudes and decisions about investments in their children. Next, they will ask whether and how social mobility beliefs influence parents’ support for public investments in children in general, particularly those less advantaged than themselves.