If you want your children to succeed in life, they must have supervision and structure. Literature has shown that parents spending time with their children in the supportive and meaningful ways improve their children’s economic outlook later in life.
In a recent study, published in PLOS One, researchers conducted a study wanting to know whether adult and parental supervision and education contribute to improved economic position of children after controlling for the socioeconomic status of the family. Due to the the challenging times of middle and high school years, they deemed this was a critical time for parental supervision.
For their study, they analyzed data from the longitudinal study, the Great Smoking Mountain study. The study consisted of 1,420 children mostly in rural counties of North Carolina between the ages of 9 to 13. The participants completed assessments each year up to the age of 16, from 1993 to 2000. These former children were reassessed in their 30’s, from 2018 to 2021.
They collected data regarding how many parents they had, family income, education of parents, and how well the parents supervised their children. Evidence of behavioral problems in children were also assessed. In adulthood, their researchers looked that the former child’s current income and education level in their 30s.
As expected, overall, participants who came from families at higher level of income tended to have higher household income themselves. Also, for every 2 years of parental post-high education, their adult children earned $4,464 more per year. And for every $5,000 more the parents made, their kids earned about $4,199 more.
The authors additionally found that poor adult supervision also lead to lower income for children when the grew up. For every point decrease in the adequacy for supervision, the adult child earned $7,087 less. Adolescent behavioral issues were also linked to lower income where each symptom during adolescent years lead to a decrease of $4,114 per year.
“Having adequate parental supervision during adolescence in the late 1990s resulted in a lifetime income difference of ~$219,870 (confidence interval: $172,290 to $261,180) between ages 35–65 (without pay increases). This lifetime income difference is equivalent to ~1–2 extra years of parent education, or an additional $10,000 in annual parental household income. Our results may suggest positive cascade effects of parental supervision beyond adolescence and on income two decades later, subsequently influencing the child’s social mobility,” the authors wrote in their study.
While socioeconomic status can play a factor into the success of people, poor economic status can be overcome with good parenting in the household through adequate and meaningful supervision. And while the next generation may not be in the “ideal” socioeconomic situation, as long as each generation gets a little better and pass on these quality values to our children, eventually future generations will get there. Socioeconomic status or the school is absolutely not an excuse for poor parenting. Don’t let yourself or others convince you that you are a victim of circumstance. It’s not where we are today that determines our future, it’s what we do with the present, and that include quality parenting with structure and discipline that children require.
EW McGinnis et al. Parental supervision positively impacts children’s economic prospects two decades later: A prospective longitudinal study. PLOS One. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286218
