Im kinda curious what exact "character-forging aspects of life as a poor teenager" lead to not just better school outcomes but better life outcomes in general?

Im kinda curious what exact "character-forging aspects of life as a poor teenager" lead to not just better school outcomes but better life outcomes in general? The only thing that comes to mind is possibly empathy towards the less fortunate, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to result in better life outcomes for a person in our modern society. But let me stress "possibly" because there seems to be plenty of examples of people who dont have any kind of empathy towards others who grew up as poor teenagers.