“A Student Wrote on my arm Because They Knew I was Unhoused and Could not Shower”: Addressing Social Class Discrimination among Adolescents

Abstract

Social class discrimination refers to the negative overt or subtle interpersonal treatment that individuals encounter because they are disadvantaged in social class. Adolescents experience social class discrimination from peers, school personnel, and other adults, often cued by visible markers, such as clothing, housing, food access, and the (in)ability to pay for school activities. Up to 50% of adolescents surveyed report social class discrimination, underscoring the need for consideration. During adolescence, these experiences may be especially consequential because young people are navigating pubertal change, heightened peer evaluation, awareness of inequality, and identity development. Social class discrimination is associated with academic outcomes, substance use, body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, depressive symptoms, and self-esteem. This article reviews evidence on social class discrimination and identifies policy-relevant strategies for multiple stakeholders, including policymakers, families, school personnel, and adolescents. Strategies include (a) acknowledging and (b) eliminating social class discrimination, and (c) supporting adolescents who are disadvantaged in social class. Recommendations include developing policies and trainings that increase awareness, promote coping, and encourage advocacy to address social class discrimination.

Keywords

adolescence social class discrimination policy schools

Social Media

Social class discrimination among adolescents is prevalent and can affect their health and development. Evidence-based strategies include developing policies and trainings that increase awareness, promote coping, and encourage advocacy to address social class discrimination.

Key Points

Adolescents experience social class discrimination from peers, school personnel, and other adults. These experiences include teasing, exclusion, or differential treatment. Changes in puberty, cognition, and identity result in a heightened awareness of inequality and make class-based discrimination especially consequential for this age.

Social class discrimination is prevalent and connected to academic difficulties, substance use, body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, depressive symptoms, and lower self-esteem.

Policymakers should recognize that social class discrimination is a public health issue and support research that informs the programs aimed at preventing this experience for adolescents.

Families should talk to adolescents about social class and support school policies that address social class discrimination. For families who are disadvantaged in social class, caregivers should discuss adolescents’ experiences with social class discrimination and help them to develop coping strategies.

School personnel should advocate for school policies that address social class discrimination, seek out trainings to raise awareness, and learn how to intervene when they witness this discrimination. School counselors should connect with adolescents who are disadvantaged in social class to address their experiences with social class discrimination.

Adolescents should seek trainings for how to intervene when social class discrimination occurs in schools and communities. For those who are disadvantaged in social class, they can learn coping strategies and identify supportive peers and school personnel.

The title of this article describes an adolescent's experience with being treated negatively because they are disadvantaged in social class (Mello, 2026). This phenomenon, called social class discrimination (Langhout et al., 2007; Liu, 2011) matters because of financial conditions and the implications for adolescent development. In the United States (US), economic inequality has increased dramatically, with reports indicating that the top 1% make nearly 139 times as much as the bottom 20% (Institute for Policy Studies, 2025). Within the US population, 15% of children and adolescents are living in poverty (Shrider, 2024). These economic patterns extend worldwide, as nearly 900 million children live in poverty globally (UNICEF, 2024).

Understanding social class discrimination among adolescents also matters because they will increasingly encounter people from a variety of social class backgrounds, given trends in the US educational system. US adolescents will spend more time with peers from a different social class background because schools are consolidating. Across the country, schools are closing and merging because of declining enrollments (Guardian, 2026). An economically heterogeneous educational setting could lead to more experiences of social class discrimination.

Adolescence is a critical period for examining social class discrimination, as young people are vulnerable because they are developing across multiple domains, including puberty, cognition, and identity (Blakemore, 2008; Erikson, 1968; Fabris & Longobardi, 2024). Drawing from empirical evidence about social class discrimination, this article outlines strategies to address this experience. For policymakers, families, school personnel, and adolescents themselves, strategies include (a) acknowledging and understanding social class discrimination, (b) reducing and even eliminating social class discrimination, and (c) supporting adolescents who are disadvantaged in social class. Recommendations include developing policies and trainings that increase awareness, promote coping, and encourage advocacy to address social class discrimination.

Social Class Discrimination Among Adolescents

For adolescents, social class is shaped by their family circumstances and includes income, education, and occupation, and perceived position within society (Diemer et al., 2013). This paper uses the term “social class” rather than “socioeconomic status” (SES) to emphasize that social class encompasses both objective resources and subjective experiences relating to status, comparison, and belonging. This distinction recognizes that adolescents do not experience class only through material conditions. They also interpret their family's position relative to others. Social class is conceptualized as a causal agent, although experimental support is limited given the inability to manipulate one's social class.

Social class discrimination includes the overt and subtle negative interpersonal treatment that one perceives based on their social class. (Fuller-Rowell et al., 2023; Langhout et al., 2009; Liu, 2011; Mello, 2024; Sartor et al., 2021). Overt social class discrimination is obvious and blatant, such as being yelled at or harassed. For example, A young person was asked about the experiences a child disadvantaged in social class would have: “Somebody should burn your house up because you poor, if you poor you shouldn’t be alive” (Weinger, 1998, pp. 109–110). In contrast, subtle forms of social class discrimination are hard to notice and can include microaggressions, such as the experience an adolescent described: “This teacher was talking about a character of a book, he [teacher] said, ‘You got this guy who's got, like, a mechanic mouth.’ I was about to walk out because my Mom's fiancée is a mechanic” (Kuriloff & Reichert, 2003, p. 762).

Stereotypes about social class underscore social class discrimination among adolescents. Prevailing stereotypes about individuals who are disadvantaged in social class include (low) intelligence, (in)competence, and (un)cleanliness. Experimental and observational studies show that individuals who are disadvantaged in social class are judged to be less intelligent (Durante & Fiske, 2017). Experiments have demonstrated that individuals wearing clothing rated as rich were perceived as more competent than those in clothing rated as poor (Oh et al., 2020). Early adolescents have also been shown to associate poverty with being dirty, while wealth has been associated with cleanliness (Mistry et al., 2015).

Adolescents experience social class discrimination frequently and from multiple sources. Fuller-Rowell et al. (2023) indicated that almost half of a sample of adolescents were treated differently because of their social class. This rate aligns with other studies of adolescents (Mello et al., 2026a). Social class discrimination comes from multiple sources for adolescents, including their peers and school personnel. Research shows that peers are an important source of such experiences for adolescents. One study indicated that almost 25% of adolescents reported that they were treated differently by their friends, classmates, and other teenagers because of their social class (Mello et al., 2026a).

Researchers have documented that teachers may be an important source of social class discrimination. For example, an adolescent remarked: “A teacher said we inherit things that our parents did. So, she said if our parents didn’t go to college, then we are most likely not to go to college” (Mello et al., 2026b; pg. 13). In another study, almost half (46%) of the adolescents indicated that teachers were a source of social class discrimination (Mello et al., 2026a). Other research has shown that the school setting is where many adolescents experience social class discrimination (Ayres, 2008; Kuriloff & Reichert, 2003).

Social media may reinforce the links among social class, appearance, status, and ultimately the visible cues adolescents use to judge one another. In a study that examined televised images and print, individuals who were disadvantaged in social class were portrayed negatively (Bullock et al., 2001). In an examination of television shows, working-class characters were overrepresented as unattractive, whereas upper-class characters were overrepresented as highly attractive (Behm-Morawitz et al., 2018). Further, a study of magazine advertisements noted that expensive items were described in language that denoted luxury and beauty, whereas less expensive items were associated with simple details (Kozee, 2016). Social media influences the emphasis on appearance among adolescents. In a longitudinal study of adolescents, appearance-related social media consciousness was linked to self-worth and appearance esteem (Maheux et al., 2024).

Adolescence: A Critical Period for Understanding Social Class Discrimination

Adolescence is a developmental period typically bounded by the onset of puberty and the transition to adulthood. The intersection of pubertal growth, cognitive advances in perspective taking, and identity formation about self-concept during this stage may make adolescents more aware of inequality, while also becoming more susceptible to social judgment and exclusion.

Puberty

Pubertal development may make adolescents’ experiences of social class discrimination particularly impactful. The onset of puberty brings rapid physical change, heightened body awareness, greater concern with how one is seen by others, and shifts in physical self-concept (Gordon, 2024; Rapee et al., 2019). These changes unfold in a social context where appearance is closely monitored by peers, making appearance-related teasing a common form of bullying during adolescence (Klinck et al., 2020). Body image concerns also tend to intensify during this period (Wang et al., 2019). These dynamics matter for social class discrimination because class can be read through clothing, shoes, housing conditions, and other resources (Mello et al., 2026b; Mistry et al., 2026; Oh et al., 2020). Thus, adolescents who are disadvantaged in social class may be especially vulnerable when appearance-based markers (e.g., clothing) are a basis for social class discrimination. Bourdieu (1986) provided theoretical support for this notion when he argued that “cultural capital may be objectified in material objects” (p. 19).

Recent qualitative work shows how adolescents experience social class discrimination through these visible markers. In semi-structured interviews with 41 US adolescents and adults, social class discrimination was often tied to appearance, material possessions, housing conditions, parental occupation, and perceived wealth (Mello et al., 2026b). This was illustrated in a participant who described how they devoted time to finding affordable, trendy clothes ‘‘to make it seem like she has money’’ to fit in at college (Radmacher & Azmitia, 2013). Broader research on social class perception helps explain why these markers matter. Children and adolescents use visual and material cues, including clothing and belongings, to make judgments about an individual's social class standing (Elenbaas, 2019; Mistry et al., 2015). According to perception research, clothing in particular is a core component of observers’ first impressions and contribute to inferences about social categories, status, and competence (Oh et al., 2020). Thus, visible markers of social class may become a salient basis for teasing, exclusion, and discrimination during a developmental period when appearance and peer evaluation are especially consequential.

Cognition

From a cognitive standpoint, adolescence is marked by rapid maturation in neural and cognitive systems that support abstract reasoning, self-regulation, and social decision-making (Blakemore, 2008). These neurodevelopmental changes allow adolescents to reason about social issues with increasing nuance and complexity (Keating, 2012). As these capacities mature, adolescents become able to recognize social hierarchies, evaluate fairness, and interpret exclusion as unjust (Gönül et al., 2023). These cognitive advances may also help adolescents reflect on their family's position within broader economic and social systems and connect that position to their own experiences of social class discrimination (Mistry et al., 2026; Starr et al., 2026). Compared to children, adolescents are more likely to judge social class-based exclusion as wrong and to explain it as unfair treatment or discrimination (Gönül et al., 2023). In a study with 5th and 9th graders older adolescents were more likely to understand wealth than were younger adolescents (Sigelman, 2012). Older adolescents (12^th grade) had more knowledge and a more nuanced understanding of wealth and poverty than did younger adolescents (7^th grade; Flanagan et al., 2014).

Age may further shape how adolescents perceive and respond to social class discrimination. Early adolescence is a period of pronounced neurodevelopmental change, during which experiences involving status, exclusion, and unfair treatment become increasingly salient to young people's sense of self (Ma et al., 2026). Age-related differences in how social class discrimination relates to educational outcomes have shown stronger associations among younger adolescents than among older adolescents (Mello et al., 2025a, 2026a). These findings underscore the importance of developmental timing. Early adolescence may be a particularly sensitive period, as youth are beginning to recognize class-based inequality while still developing the cognitive and social resources needed to interpret and respond to it.

Identity

During adolescence, young people are actively forming a sense of self, belonging, and social position (Erikson, 1968). Research on adolescent identity has examined multiple domains, such as race/ethnicity, gender, religion, and sexuality. As adolescents become better able to recognize inequality, they also begin to make sense of what unequal treatment means for who they are and where they belong. As studies with college students show, class is a salient part of self-understanding (Pequet & Gray, 2025; Thomas & Azmitia, 2014). For example, among first-generation college students from diverse backgrounds, social class identity was prominent and was informed by parental socialization about social class (Pequet & Gray, 2025). When examined through an intersectional lens, social class identity operates alongside race/ethnicity and gender (Velez & Spencer, 2018).

Social Class Discrimination is Linked to Well-Being

Academic Outcomes

Social class is associated with academic outcomes among adolescents (Liu, 2011), a link that has influenced policies such as Head Start (Anderson et al., 2003). Although research is limited, social class discrimination potentially explains this association. In a qualitative study, disadvantaged high schoolers experienced class-based discrimination from both teachers and peers (Kuriloff & Reichert, 2003). Cross-sectional research demonstrates that social class discrimination is associated with lower grade point averages (Starr et al., 2026). Among college students, multiple studies show that social class discrimination negatively affects academic satisfaction, adjustment, and work motivation (Allan et al., 2016; Langhout et al., 2007).

Social class discrimination may also affect factors related to academics, including socioemotional well-being, impulsivity, and feelings of isolation (Arslan, 2021). In qualitative research, social class discrimination is associated with a low sense of belongingness to schools. An adolescent disadvantaged in social class illustrated this finding: “Some teachers say they care about you, but I have different feelings…They don’t care what I think. They act like they listen, but they really ignore you” (Brantlinger, 1993; pg. 6).

Substance Use

Substance use poses risks to healthy adolescent development and has been linked to social class discrimination among adolescents. In one study, cannabis use disorder was positively associated with being treated differently because of social class (Ahuja et al., 2022). Tobacco use is associated with social class discrimination: Adolescents were more likely to use tobacco compared to their peers if they had mothers who reported having experienced social class discrimination (Sartor et al., 2021). Similarly, adolescents were more likely to use combustible tobacco and nicotine vaping if they reported having experienced social class discrimination (Mello et al., 2025b). Further, the setting in which adolescents experience social class discrimination is associated with substance use. Adolescents who experienced this discrimination out of school were more likely to use tobacco than those who experienced this discrimination in school (Mello et al., 2026c).

Body Image and Disordered Eating

Body image is shaped by social position (Bojorquez & Unikel, 2012). Prior research connects social class to body dissatisfaction, unhealthy weight-control behaviors, and disordered eating symptoms among adolescents (Larson et al., 2021). Social class may be associated with body image and disordered eating through several mechanisms. These associations reflect material pathways, such as food insecurity and constrained access to health-promoting resources, as well as social pathways, including stigma (Radtke et al., 2025). In support of this assertion, a study of 1,558 adolescents indicated that social class discrimination from various sources (teachers, classmates, and adults in the community) was associated with greater body dissatisfaction and higher levels of disordered eating (Kakar et al., 2026).

Mental Health

Mental health challenges among young people are at dramatic levels (National Institute of Mental Health, 2023), and social class is strongly tied to mental health (Goodman et al., 2003). Adolescents who are disadvantaged in social class are three times more likely to experience a mental health challenge than their counterparts (Reiss, 2013). Social class discrimination is one way to understand the connection between social class and mental health among adolescents. A tragic event illustrates this point (Yang, 2024): A 14-year-old boy died by suicide after being bullied by his peers because he was unhoused. According to his father, the boy experienced discrimination from his high school football teammates after they discovered that he was living in a shelter. Research with high school students provides support for this boy's experience. In a study with adolescents, social class discrimination was positively associated with depressive symptoms and negatively associated with self-esteem (Dogru & Mello, 2024).

Social class discrimination is also associated with college students’ mental health. In one study, social class and first-generation college student status predicted social class discrimination (Allan et al., 2016). Another study of college students indicated that social class discrimination was associated with psychological distress (Langhout et al., 2009). Adding to the psychological outcomes associated with social class discrimination, a study with college students found that social class discrimination was associated with stress, anxiety, (lower) well-being, and attitudes toward mental health care (Cavalhieri et al., 2023). This replicates findings from a study also conducted with college students where researchers found that social class discrimination was associated with self-rated health, stress, state and trait anxiety, life satisfaction, and well-being (Cavalhieri & Chwalisz, 2020).

Recommendations

Social class discrimination is prevalent, a correlate of adolescent health and well-being, and particularly salient for the developmental period of adolescence. Based on the evidence just reviewed, three strategies will be especially beneficial to address social class discrimination: (1) acknowledge and understand social class discrimination, (2) reduce and eliminate social class discrimination in settings where adolescents develop, such as schools, and (3) support students who are disadvantaged in social class. For each of these strategies, we present concrete plans for key stakeholders, including policy makers, families, school personnel, and adolescents.

Policymakers

Policymakers need to recognize that social class discrimination is a public health issue and support research that informs the programs aimed at preventing this experience for adolescents. To develop programs to reduce this discrimination, it is essential to understand the phenomenon. Needed research should establish causal relationships between social class discrimination and key indicators of adolescent development, including academics, substance use, and mental health. Longitudinal research designs are needed for such an effort. Additional ways that policymakers may contribute to addressing social class discrimination is to include social class in public health initiatives. This would elevate this issue so that the public become more aware of it and its consequences. Legislation could also be expanded to include being disadvantaged in social class as a protected characteristic. Policies that provide economic support for families with adolescents who are disadvantaged in social class could be bolstered.

Families

Family members may help adolescents cope with social class discrimination. Parents can support their adolescents by preparing them for bias and instilling a positive identity about social their class. Research has documented how parents socialize their children about social class (Pequet & Gray, 2025). This provides guidance for families with adolescents. Studies have also documented how parents of racially/ethnically minoritized youth can buffer the effects of racial/ethnic discrimination (Wang & Huguley, 2012). A meta-analysis about racial/ethnic socialization found that preparation for bias related positively to academic outcomes (Wang et al., 2020). This preparation may help youth attribute discrimination to the prejudice of the perpetrator rather than experiencing negative self-views. Parent preparation for racial bias increased self-control and reduced depressive symptoms (Metzger et al., 2025). Thus, when paired with positive social class identity, such as working-class pride, preparation for bias may help adolescents disadvantaged by social class navigate discrimination.

Families can also teach adolescents to intervene when they witness social class discrimination happening. If adolescents deterred others from committing social class discrimination, this could lessen its occurrence. Families can also address this issue, by supporting school policies about social class. Schools are often persuaded by the interests of families so that information about social class could be made more readily available if families expressed an interest.

Parents can also help instill a positive social class identity among their adolescents, which may provide a buffer to discrimination. Prior research indicates that children disadvantaged in social class form negative self-views due to social class discrimination (Brummelman & Sedikides, 2023). However, research among racially/ethnically marginalized adolescents suggests that instilling a positive group identity can help buffer the negative effects of discrimination (Wang & Huguley, 2012); this socialization relates to positive academic and mental health outcomes among racially/ethnically minoritized youth (Wang et al., 2020). A positive social class identity could include pride in one's social class background. Qualitative research with first-generation college students disadvantaged in social class suggests that pride is common (Azmitia et al., 2018). However, cultural pride and identity may differ among families disadvantaged by social class in comparison to those marginalized by their race/ethnicity, as the identities are different from one another.

School Personnel

Adolescents spend most of their day in school, making this setting crucial for their development. School personnel can both mitigate and perpetrate social class discrimination. Teachers, counselors, and administrators could therefore be encouraged to attend trainings that raise awareness about social class discrimination, including how to recognize it among adolescents. Such programs could teach school personnel how to intervene when they witness social class discrimination. Schools could review policies that may unintentionally stigmatize social class disadvantage. School personnel could advocate for policies that support adolescents who are disadvantaged in social class. Counselors might be particularly impactful for this effort.

Additional recommendations for school personnel borrow from research on racial/ethnic discrimination. Teacher expectations based on race/ethnicity inform teacher practices, student-teacher relationships, and student academic outcomes (Sabol & Pianta, 2012; Tennebaum & Ruck, 2007). For example, focusing on perceived differential treatment, researchers found that this teacher-based bias contributed to a gap in standardized test scores between classrooms that were determined to be high and low in perceived differential treatment among racially/ethnically diverse students (McKown & Weinstein, 2008).

Adolescents

Adolescents exhibit social class discrimination toward one another, making the peer group crucial for addressing the issue. To date, in meta-analyses, peer-based bullying prevention programs are successful in reducing bullying and improving health and development for youth (Fraguas et al., 2021). With regard to social class discrimination, peer-focused interventions could address class-based teasing and exclusion directly and not merely as interpersonal conflict.

Informing adolescents may increase awareness of social class discrimination and its consequences. Adolescents could attend programs that teach them how to recognize this discrimination and how to intervene when they witness a classmate engaging in this behavior in the classroom, although voluntary participation is ideal. This could be an effective way to reduce and ultimately eliminate social class discrimination in school settings. For adolescents who are disadvantaged in social class, it would be useful for them to learn strategies for coping with experiences of social class discrimination. This could include identifying peers or school personnel who can provide support.

Conclusion

Adolescents from financially challenged families are vulnerable to discrimination. This article defined the topic and described its prevalence among adolescents. The experience of social class discrimination might be particularly difficult during adolescence because of puberty, cognitive advances, and identity formation. Social class discrimination is associated with several domains of adolescent development, including academics, substance use, body image, and mental health. Recommendations include developing policies and trainings that increase awareness, promote coping, and encourage advocacy to address social class discrimination. Adolescents from all social class backgrounds should have the opportunity to thrive.

Footnotes

ORCID iDs

Zena R. Mello

Christine R. Starr

Vani Kakar

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, (grant number 2317285, R16DA061947, T32IP4744).

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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