How Does Socio-Economic Status Shape a Child's Personality?

We show that socio-economic status (SES) is a powerful predictor of
many facets of a child's personality. The facets of personality we
investigate encompass time preferences, risk preferences, and
altruism, as well as crystallized and fluid IQ. We measure a
family's SES by the mother's and father's average years of
education and household income. Our results show that children from
families with higher SES are more patient, tend to be more
altruistic and less likely to be risk seeking, and score higher on
IQ tests. We also discuss potential pathways through which SES
could affect the formation of a child's personality by documenting
that many dimensions of a child's environment differ systematically
by SES: parenting style, quantity and quality of time parents spend
with their children, the mother's IQ and economic preferences, a
child's initial conditions at birth, and family structure. Finally,
we use panel data to show that the relationship between SES and
personality is fairly stable over time at age 7 to 10. Personality
profiles that vary systematically with SES might offer an
explanation for social immobility.