The Way We Raise Them: Childhood Lifestyles and Parenting in Middle-class Communities

• In Event: 4152 - Parenthood and Parenting

Abstract

Understanding the intergenerational persistence of social advantage is increasingly important as U.S. social inequalities widen and intergenerational social mobility shrinks. Previous research has pointed to class-monolithic parenting practices shaping children’s everyday lives as one mechanism through which this persistence occurs, but lifestyles theory would expect variation within social class groups. Grounded in analyses of interview, observational, and focus data from families in two neighboring middle- to upper-middle class communities, we introduce the concept of “childhood lifestyles” as a theoretical and empirical tool for better understanding these intergenerational transmission processes. Our findings show that contemporary middle- to upper-middle-class intensive parenting involves the deliberate construction of an individualized childhood lifestyle through children’s behaviors and parents’ narratives, which reflect the family identities parents seek to instill in their children. Communities facilitate multiple localized childhood lifestyles through attracting like-minded families and through social control processes. In our communities, four prevalent lifestyles vary along two dimensions: degree of parental involvement in children’s everyday interactions, and focus on children’s future success versus current well-being. Parents navigate potential judgments of their childhood lifestyle choices through discursive strategies such as expressing ambivalence, advocating moderation, and emphasizing the intensive efforts they are making. These childhood lifestyles are likely consequential for social inequalities and for families’ behaviors, identities, and health.

Authors

• Stefanie Mollborn, University of Colorado-Boulder

• Jennifer Ann Pace, University of Colorado-Boulder

• Bethany Rigles, University of Colorado-Boulder