Privileged dependence, precarious autonomy: Parent/young adult relationships through the lens of COVID‐19.
Objective: This article identifies how social class differences in undergraduates' relationships with their parents shaped their responses to educational disruptions caused by the COVID‐19 pandemic. Background: The mechanisms through which parents transmit class advantages to children are often hidd...
| Published in: | Journal of Marriage & Family Vol. 85; no. 1; pp. 215 - 233 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Feb2023
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=161162776&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 161162776 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00222445 JMA jtl: Journal of Marriage & Family issn: 00222445 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Feb2023 vid: 85 iid: 1 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 161162776 10.1111/jomf.12895 ppf: 215 ppct: 18 formats: tig: atl: Privileged dependence, precarious autonomy: Parent/young adult relationships through the lens of COVID‐19. aug: au: van Stee, Elena G. affil: Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, , USA su: Parent-adult child relationships Young adults COVID-19 pandemic Social classes Higher education Educational attainment Family roles sug: subj: Parent-adult child relationships Young adults COVID-19 pandemic Social classes Higher education Educational attainment Family roles keyword: higher education intergenerational relationships parenting privilege social class young adulthood higher education intergenerational relationships parenting privilege social class young adulthood ab: Objective: This article identifies how social class differences in undergraduates' relationships with their parents shaped their responses to educational disruptions caused by the COVID‐19 pandemic. Background: The mechanisms through which parents transmit class advantages to children are often hidden from view and therefore remain imperfectly understood. This study uses the case of the COVID‐19 pandemic to examine how young adults from different social class backgrounds expect, negotiate, and attach meaning to parental support. Methods: This study draws from in‐depth interviews with 48 Black and White upper‐middle and working‐class undergraduates from a single elite university, along with 10 of their mothers. Results: Facing pandemic‐related disruptions, upper‐middle‐class students typically sought substantial direction and material assistance from parents. In contrast, working‐class students typically assumed more responsibility for their own—and sometimes other family members'—well‐being. These classed patterns of "privileged dependence" and "precarious autonomy" were shaped by students' understandings of family members' authority, needs, and responsibilities. Conclusion: Upper‐middle‐class students' greater dependence on parents functioned as a protective force, enabling them to benefit from parents' material and academic support during the transition to remote instruction. These short‐term protections may yield long‐term payoffs denied their working‐class peers. Beyond the immediate context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the concepts of "privileged dependence" and "precarious autonomy" offer scholars a set of theoretical tools for understanding class inequality in other young adult contexts. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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