Family of Origin, Race/Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Attainment: Genotype and Intraindividual Processes.

Previous research has mainly focused on the persistent direct influence of early life contexts on young adult socioeconomic attainment, and less is known about intraindividual processes that are responsible for this persistent influence. The present study, using genetically informed longitudinal, prospective data from a nationally representative sample (Add Health), attempted to fill this gap by adding three important findings to the literature: (a) Adolescents experiencing adverse family contexts during childhood and early adolescence showed lower socioeconomic attainment in early adulthood than adolescents from less adverse family contexts, (b) adolescent academic and cognitive competencies and psychological vulnerabilities partially mediated these persistent influences, and (c) individual cumulative genetic characteristics additively and interactively influenced adolescent competencies and vulnerabilities as well as young adult socioeconomic attainment. The results demonstrate that although substantial continuity exists in early adversities, individual genetic variability is a factor that influences individuals' response to early socioeconomic conditions.Key Words: adolescence, family, marital status, socioeconomic status.It has been well documented that children reared in adverse family contexts attain much less income and assets in early adulthood than children reared in non-adverse family contexts (Bird, 2007; Featherman & Hauser, 1978; Wickrama, Simons, & Baltimore, 2012). Early life experiences can either build a solid foundation for later life or lead to the development of persistent vulnerabilities that limit young adults' opportunities and life chances (Bird). Thus, adults' capabilities and successes are largely contingent on their experiences as children and adolescents (Elder, Johnson, & Crosnoe, 2003; Sen, 1999). But previous research on status attainment and life course has mainly focused on the persistent direct influence of early life contexts on young adult socioeconomic attainment (Featherman & Hauser; Wickrama et al., 2012), and less is known about intraindividual processes that are responsible for the persistent influence. In particular, the development of individual competencies and vulnerabilities over childhood and adolescence (Wang, Kick, Fraser, & Burns, 1999; Wickrama, Conger, Lorenz, & Jung, 2008), as well as individual genetic makeup (Belsky, Bakersmans-Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2007; Belsky & Beaver, 201 1), may play an important role in shaping the association between early life contexts and young adult socioeconomic attainment. Nevertheless, research investigating these different outcomes in the same modeling framework is rare.LITERATURE REVIEWAlthough genetics research has increasingly demonstrated that individual genotypes interact with early life contexts to influence adolescent developmental outcomes (e.g., Beaver & Belsky, 2012; Belsky et al., 2007; Simons et al., 201 1), we know very little about the extent to which genotypes and early life experiences interact to influence adolescent and young adult outcomes over the early life course. Thus, as shown in Figure 1, the current study examined three things: (a) the unique persistent influences of early family contexts during childhood and early adolescence on young adult socioeconomic attainment, (b)the mediating role of adolescent academic and cognitive competencies and psychological vulnerabilities on young adult socioeconomic achievement, and (c)the additive (genetic [G]) and interactive (gene x environment [GxE]) influences of cumulative genetic characteristics on adolescent competencies and vulnerabilities as well as on young adults' socioeconomic attainment over the early life course.Family-of-Origin Characteristics and Adolescent OutcomesResearch has stressed the centrality of family dis/advantage in impairing (or fostering) youth's psychological, cognitive, and behavioral development during adolescence, when rapid developmental changes occur (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002). …