A long-term prospective study of 456 inner-city men tested the
hypothesis that extreme poverty and chaotic family life produce a self-
perpetuating underclass. Men from chronically dependent and multiproblem
families were on average indistinguishable by midlife from the children of
more stable working-class families in terms of mean income, years of
employment, criminality, and mental health. Although attained social class
was somewhat lower for the disadvantaged, given the opportunity for steady
employment and occupational mobility, the children from multiproblem
welfare families did not inevitably perpetuate their initial
disadvantages.Abstract Teaser