I grew up in a low-income family surrounded by much wealthier families and attended schools where the children were usually very much better off than us. It had a big impact on my self-esteem and that of my sister, and it is only in very recent years that I have managed to leave this sense of inferiority behind.
A spin-off issue that should be taken into consideration is that children in low-income families can often be very stressed and worried about the family's finances from a very young age and take on their parents' concerns about this area. This in turn leads to not wanting to bother your parents with 'trivial' things such as being unhappy at school or worrying about exams or peer problems, so these children can end up carrying a lot of burdens alone.
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