_What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Weaker_
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-therapy/201008/...
"Developmental research has shown convincingly that traumatized children are more, not less, likely to be traumatized again. Kids who grow up in a tough neighborhood become weaker, not stronger. They are more, not less likely to struggle in the world."
You're probably successful in spite of, not because of, the circumstances of your upbringing.
https://ptgi.uncc.edu/files/2015/01/Positive-outcomes-follow...
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527023034961045755602...
https://webfiles.uci.edu/rsilver/Seery,%20Holman,%20&%20Silv...
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/out-the-darkness/201111...
It's hardly a new idea, but one of the greatest advantages of wealth is the opportunity to take risks without feeling the true punishment of hard failure (regardless of whether those are professional or personal).
High water makes navigating the boulders a lot easier, so even if we assume that rich kids are less prepared to face challenges in life - on balance - that simply doesn't matter as much.
Then it is not true a risk. I can see how this could lead to less effort.
It doesn't feel like it when you're taking the risk. The older I get, the luckier I realize I am to have grown up in such a safe environment, to have gone to good public schools, and to live in such a developed society
Those with less privilege typically need to spend that time addressing immediate financial imperatives rather than focusing on delayed financial or academic rewards.
In other words, ignoring that while some poor kids may win in "hard mode" doesn't change the fact that rich kids play life in "easy mode", and as such, it's much easier for them to win, and much more of them will win, any merit and hard work put into it being equal.
It's like showing some succesful despite the odds black man in 1960 to show that "see, Jim Crow and racism doesn't matter, it's all a matter of will".
The hundreds of thousands of people who did not get stronger through their struggles are not represented, because they are not here to present themselves.
The actual stats are pretty clear in that richer kids do better and are happier as adults than poor kids.
There is a silver lining to humble roots. Shame on those who diminish all things other than wealth.
Anecdotal evidence
Not to take away from your achievement BUT you are sadly the exception. You are not giving yourself enough credit.
I have adopted and fostered children from abusive impoverished lives. They are great and are in college but they still struggle to achieve it in a timely manner. They also struggle with grades though they actually are above average in intelligence.
PS Top .1 % income children are also impacted negatively but they have an easier fall back (Grow up and financial means to give themselves unlimited supply of alcohol and drugs) Where I grew up these rich kids were having 3rd world diseases like scurvy since they just ate what they wanted.
I worry any children I have will be spoiled (because I'll instinctively spoil them) and wont have the drive I do.
The study is about differences in brain shape and brain capability that come from poverty.
You're worried about differences in character that come from how you raise kids.
It's true that some rich parents spoil their kids. But I know plenty of people from affluent backgrounds that are just as scrappy under pressure because they've been raised well.
So as you raise kids, you could try to generate the experiences of being poor. E.g., you could make a checklist out of this article and its excellent comments:
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
Or you could instead try to teach them your values through experience.
Given the choice between a job candidate with a perfect resume and one who has fought through difficulty, human resources executive Regina Hartley always gives the "Scrapper" a chance. As someone who grew up with adversity, Hartley knows that those who flourish in the darkest of spaces are empowered with the grit to persist in an ever-changing workplace. "Choose the underestimated contender, whose secret weapons are passion and purpose," she says. "Hire the Scrapper.
Imagine if you said that at a job interview. "What's your greatest weakness?" "I think I can achieve great things (or make money, or whatever) and I don't let failure stop me." That's not a weakness.
I would bet (and is only a personal impression, I can't back it with data) that the effect shows in more than one generation.
If you compare parents that are more or less of the same socio-economic status now (because good public education, luck, talent, whatever), the parents that come from affluent households, see as normal that a children should have a foreign nanny, music formation, travel a lot.. this kind of things.
The parents that never had that in their childhood simply don't know how to do that because they didn't experiment that themselves. Of course they try, but it's obvious that it's not the same. Maybe, with luck, their grandchildren will be there.
I am talking about professional workers, not spoiled children of millionaires. I suppose that is totally other situation.
No, it's all offset from not having great connections with the right rich people, not having personal safety net and deposits to be able to work for long in some prototype, etc, things much more important.
It might work out for you, but in general there's not much for poor startup founders over rich ones.
Technology is reducing the cost of entry for increasing number of industries. YC and other communities are providing network. Working for a few years you can save up a lot.
Natural ?
Unlike the overall negative tone of this study, I feel like poor kids actually have an advantage because they have a natural instinct to try harder to survive. Of course, there will always be those who simply give up because they think their station in life is set. It's probably more likely society and culture that keeps them down, not brain development.
On the other, rich kids have a skewed sense of need versus want, as well as effort versus reward. If everything comes easy, I'd argue rich kids are more developmentally challenged, possess less problem solving skills—especially under pressure—less able to deal with failure and less creative. Hence the "spoiled rich kid" stereotype. Whereas society constantly reminds poor kids all the things they can't do, rich kids are constantly reminded that they can do anything they want. Even well-meaning efforts like the "privilege" comic strip a while back reinforces this meme. I think that's where the real advantage comes from, and why the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor.
This is something very top of mind right now as I start to plan to have kids.