City Research Online

Abstract

Existing research has identified notable psychosocial consequences associated with wealth among adolescents and young adults, positioning them as a “newly identified at-risk group” (Koplewicz et al., 2009). These difficulties are broadly categorised as maladjustment, achievement pressures, and isolation. Affluent youth report significantly higher rates of internalising difficulties, such as anxiety and depression (Luthar & Latendresse, 2005; Yates et al., 2008) and externalising behaviours, such as substance use (Lund et al., 2012; Park & Hwang, 2016) that are comparable to or exceed those of their low socio-economic status peers. However, little is known about how such experiences evolve in emerging adulthood,
when identity formation is widely recognised as a key developmental task.

This study addresses this gap in the literature by asking: How do emerging adults raised with significant wealth experience and make sense of the transition into adult identity? In particular, it explores how these individuals describe and understand the relationship between familial wealth and the formation of their adult identities. Using Critical Narrative Analysis (Langdridge, 2007), four in-depth interviews with participants aged 21–25 were analysed to consider how personal experience and broader sociocultural discourses surrounding adulthood, wealth, and meritocracy shaped participants’ narratives. A detailed account of narrative function, identity work, and thematic priorities is offered for each participant.

Across interviews, three interconnected themes emerged: the relational navigation affluence (stigma management, trust, and belonging), reconciling inherited privilege with meritocratic ideals (compensatory striving and shame around privilege), and (the complicating influence of affluence on key tasks of emerging adulthood (financial independence anxiety, the paradoxical safety net, and intersectional considerations). Clinical implications include the importance of addressing implicit attitudes and assumptions towards wealthy clients and incorporating wealth explicitly within psychological formulations of distress. Avenues for future research are also outlined.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Departments:	School of Health & Medical Sciences > Department of Psychology & Neuroscience School of Health & Medical Sciences > School of Health & Medical Sciences Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses

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