Urban Ethnically Diverse Adolescents' Perceptions of Social Class at the Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

Urban middle school students (N = 1,057; M-age = 12.06) viewed Facebook-like profiles of peers who varied by race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation and indicated the social class (SC) of those peers along two dimensions-family income and social class position. As hypothesized, most profiles were perceived as middle class and above-average family income. Generally, as expected, differences emerged as a function of the peers' sociodemographics. Profiles of Whites and girls were rated as higher in SC, African American and Latino profiles as lower, and East Asian profiles as in-between those groups. Depending on the dimension of SC, the race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation of peers intersected differentially to shape perception. Results demonstrate the value of an intersectional approach and offer directions for research.