Professor Robert Kaestner and a coauthor explore childhood behavior and the gender wage gap.
Robert Kaestner, Research Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy

Children whose behavior differs from traditional gender norms and stereotypes tend to earn significantly less as adults.

These are the key findings from a new study by Robert Kaestner, Research Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, and coauthor Ofer Malamud, Associate Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.

While research has shown that gender differences and stereotypes in adult personality are a key factor driving wage disparities, this research is the first to trace the effects all the way back to childhood. The authors examined data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, to obtain estimates of associations between childhood behaviors at ages 4 through 12 and adult earnings from ages 24 to 30.

The findings are stark, and focused on two particular childhood behaviors:

  • Women who were identified as headstrong as children earn 10 percent less per year than another woman in a similar job. Meanwhile, men identified as headstrong during childhood pay no earnings penalty as adults. (Headstrong children in the study were identified by their caregivers as argumentative, strong-tempered, disobedient, stubborn, and high strung or nervous.)
  • Men pay a penalty for having demonstrated dependent behavior as children, earning six percent less per year than another man in a similar job. Yet women identified as dependent during childhood pay no earnings penalty as adults. (Dependent children in the study demanded a lot of attention, clung to adults, cried frequently or were too dependent on others).

“Women pay a steep penalty for being headstrong, while for men, the behavior makes no difference,” said Kaestner. “And men are being penalized for being dependent, while women are not.”

The researchers also examined the impact of other childhood behaviors on earnings, including antisocial behavior, anxiety, depression, hyperactivity and peer conflict. While these childhood behaviors are also associated with adult earnings, the study did not find differences by gender.

The researchers suggested that stereotypes and negative perceptions of headstrong women and dependent men in the workplace may explain the earnings disparities, but stressed that further research was needed. They also hope to explore why other child behaviors do not differ in their associations with earnings by gender, especially since these behaviors are more prevalent among boys.

Why examine child behaviors instead of adult personality traits? “Our measures of child behavior are not highly correlated with adult personality traits, suggesting they reflect distinct attributes that affect earnings and merit their own examination,” said Kaestner. “And there is evidence that childhood behavior is malleable, and could be altered by new policy and interventions in the future.”