The Russell Sage Foundation examined data of half a million high school seniors collected by Monitoring the Future since 1976. The Foundation found a correlation between the financial crisis and a change in a high school students' views of wealth.
Recession-era high schoolers were less likely to put value in status symbols like a brand new car or owning a vacation house, even if they believed it was important to have a job to make a lot of money. The Foundation found that previous recessions may have had a similar effect on younger generations.
The recession negatively impacted younger generations by making both the job market more competitive and harder to purchase houses, Wolf said. Though he hasn't seen the research, he said it was possible it made them more financially cautious as well.
"We do know from past episodes, which are much bigger, that becoming an adult during the time of a big financial crisis tends to make people more cautious through the rest of their lives," he said.