Social and Psychological Consequences of Intergenerational Occupational Mobility

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Studies relating intergenerational mobility to disturbed emotional states and decreased participation in solidary groups present contradictory evidence. Recent theoretical work suggests that the relationship between mobility and its hypothesized detrimental consequences will hold to a greater extent in a traditional and static social order and to a lesser extent in a society already "modernized." Aside from conflicting empirical findings, methods used to determine the effects of mobility have been unable to control simultaneously for prior and current socioeconomic level. Using dummy-variable multiple-regression analysis, scores for Community Integration, Primary Affiliation, Family Participation, Manifest Anxiety, and Psychosomatic Symptoms show few overall systematic effects of mobility. Respondents moving upward two or more socioeconomic levels have significantly lower Community Integration scores and significantly higher Manifest Anxiety and Psychosomatic Symptom scores. Scores on the dependent variables are unaffected by moderate amounts of either upward or downward mobility. Among very downwardly mobile respondents, the scores are the reverse anticipated by theory. The results and implications for mobility theory are discussed.