This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 13, 2011 - One-third of American children who grow up in the middle class will fall out of it as adults, according to a recent report by the Pew Economic Mobility Project.
Being born into the middle class is no guarantee that a child will maintain that economic standing as an adult, notes the report titled "Downward Mobility from the Middle Class: Waking up from the American Dream (pdf)."
Researchers defined middle class as Americans between the 30th and 70th percentiles of income distribution.
The study found four factors that heavily influence downward mobility: marital status, education, test scores and drug use.
Among the findings:
- American adults -- both men and women -- who are divorced, widowed or separated are more likely to fall out of the middle class that those who are married.
- Americans who obtain education after high school are less likely to fall behind.
- White, black and Hispanic women are equally likely to fall out of the middle class.
- 38 percent of black men lose their middle class standing, compared with 21 percent of white men.
- White women are more downwardly mobile than white men, but black women experience less downward mobility than black men.
Pew researchers drew on data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, focusing on youth who were age 14 to 17 in 1979 and who lived in their parents' homes in 1979 and 1980. Their economic status was assessed in 2004 and 2006, when they were between the ages of 39 and 44.
Click here to read the complete study or learn more about the Pew Economic Mobility Project.