In this talk, I will present a new conceptual model for examining social class discrimination among adolescents. This form of discrimination is defined as the bias that individuals experience because they are disadvantaged in social class. For adolescents, social class refers to their family’s income, education, occupation, and position in society. Increases in economic inequality worldwide are drawing attention to the powerful associations between social class and adolescent development. Despite this attention, our knowledge about how social class discrimination impacts developmental outcomes remains limited. To advance scholarship in this area, I propose a conceptualization of social class discrimination among adolescents that integrates adult theories about classism with adolescent theories about discrimination based on race/ethnicity and gender. In support of this new model, I share data from surveys and interviews conducted at high schools that differ in social class. Findings illustrate that social class discrimination arises from multiple sources and manifests in both overt and subtle forms. Social class discrimination is also shown to be associated with key developmental outcomes, including academic achievement, mental health, and risky behaviors.

Zena R. Mello (she/her) is a first-generation college student and a Professor of Psychology. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cognition and Development at the University of California, Berkeley; a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University; a B.A. in Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz; and an A.A. at Santa Rosa Junior College. Dr. Mello has been awarded 2 million dollars in funding from the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Education Sciences, the American Educational Research Association, and the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. She has been honored with the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Human Development Division of the American Educational Research Association, and she has served on the Executive Councils of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development and the Society for Research on Adolescence. Dr. Mello is the Assistant Editor for the Journal of Adolescence and is on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology and the International Journal of Behavioral Development.