Childhood Poverty, Resilience, and Pro-Social Behavior in Early Adulthood

Daniel T. Lichter, Ohio State University
J. Brian Brown, Ohio State University

We identify young adults who transcend disadvantaged childhood backgrounds and grow into productive adult roles. Specifically, we estimate the long-term effects of childhood poverty and welfare receipt on pro-social behavior in early adulthood. Achieving this objective is made possible using proprietary data from the 2000 NLSY Young Adult Sample (Center for Human Resource Research at Ohio State). We link the 1725 young adults aged 18 to 29 in 2000 to data collected from childhood and parents in the earlier 1979-1998 NLSY waves. Our research focuses on indicators of pro-social behavior: Establishing healthy intimate and friendship patterns, and civic involvement (including volunteerism). This research speaks to concerns about whether child poverty and family instability have long-term problems that are revealed in adulthood - when they become (or not) productive and well-adjusted members of American society. Our research takes a step forward in identifying the agency and resilience of today's young adults.