“I can be happy later”: Socioeconomic Trauma in Low-Income College Students

• In Event: 30620 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 2: Educational Trajectories and Inequality

Abstract

Extensive research outlines the disparate experiences and outcomes of students from varying socioeconomic backgrounds; but without a proper framework for analyzing why these disparities occur and how to address them, academic institutions will continue to fail low-income students. In this study, I introduce the concept of socioeconomic trauma as a framework for identifying both the material and social deprivations of poverty and the traumatic impact it has on college students and, ultimately, their poor sense of belonging and academic difficulties on campus. Drawing on interviews with 24 low-income college students, this study highlights the potentially traumatic impact of the social reproduction of stigma and the way culturally reinforced narratives around poverty – as opposed to a “culture of poverty” – may impact low-income individuals’ self-perceptions and the ways they navigate classed institutions. This framing highlights how the trauma of socioeconomic status goes beyond the material deprivation of poverty to include the social and psychological impact of racialized class narratives, thus deepening our understanding of the social barriers low-income students face in navigating college. This trauma-informed framework will allow researchers and administrators to better understand the unique needs of low-income students and develop targeted interventions to meet those needs and alleviate disparate outcomes.

Author

• Teagan Hallene Murphy, University of Maryland-College Park