How Lower- and Working-Class Youth Become Middle-Class Adults: The Association between Ego Defense Mechanisms and Upward Social Mobility

Abstract

This is a report of social mobility in 278 inner-city men studied for 4 decades and over 3 generations. 63.3% of the men and 59.8% of their children were upwardly mobile. 8 variables captured 28% of the explained variance in upward social mobility: IQ, mother's education, mother's occupation, boyhood ego strength, and four ego defense mechanisms--intellectualization, dissociation, sublimation, and anticipation. Of the 8 variables, intellectualization--the capacity to isolate ideation from the associated affect--explained the most unique variance, especially over 3 generations. Childhood relations of subjects with parents and father's IQ exerted no discernible effect on children's upward social mobility.