Reliability of the MacArthur scale of subjective social status - Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

Abstract

BackgroundThe MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status intend to measure the subjective social status using a numbered stepladder image. This study investigated the reliability of the MacArthur scale in a subsample of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).MethodThree scales were employed using different references: 1) the overall socioeconomic position; 2) the socioeconomic situation of the participant’s closer community; 3) the workplace as a whole. A total of 245 of the ELSA participants from six states were involved. They were interviewed twice by the same person within an interval of seven to fourteen days. The reliability of the scale was assessed with weighted Kappa statistics and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), with their respective 95% confidence interval (CI).ResultsKappa values were 0.62(0.58 to 0.64) for the society ladder; 0.58(0.56 to 0.61) for the community-related ladder; and 0.67(0.66 to 0.72) for the work-related ladder. The ICC ranged from 0.75 for the work ladder to 0.64 for the community ladder. These values differed slightly according to the participants’ age, sex and education category.ConclusionThe three ladders showed good stability in the test-retest, except the community ladder that showed moderate stability. Because the social structure in Brazil is rapidly changing, future qualitative and longitudinal studies are needed to confirm and understand the construct underlying the MacArthur Scale in the country.

Lower Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease and Quality of Life Among Older Individuals in the Community

“…Information regarding each participant's education level (high school or lower vs college or above) was collected during the ARIC visit 1 interview. Subjective economic status was measured based on the MacArthur scale,34 a self‐estimated rank of the family financial status compared to the whole US population and ranked into 10 categories (rank score 1 [lowest] to 10 [highest]), and lower economic status was defined as having a rank score <6 (median score among study participants). The subjective economic status has demonstrated a good predictability for health status 35.…”

Messung des subjektiven sozialen Status in der Gesundheitsforschung mit einer deutschen Version der MacArthur Scale

“…Das bietet gegenüber der subjektiven Schichteinstufung den Vorteil, dass die Befragten nicht unbedingt eine Vorstellung vom Modell sozialer Schichtung haben müssen, um die Frage zu beantworten [28]. Besonders für internationale Vergleiche bzw.…”

“…Besonders für internationale Vergleiche bzw. den Einsatz des Instruments in unterschiedlichen Bevölke-rungsgruppen kann dies von Vorteil sein [28,29]. Inzwischen wurde die MacArthur Scale in verschiedene Sprachen über-setzt und hinsichtlich klassischer Testgü-tekriterien überprüft.…”

“…Inzwischen wurde die MacArthur Scale in verschiedene Sprachen über-setzt und hinsichtlich klassischer Testgü-tekriterien überprüft. Die Ergebnisse deuten auf die Konstruktvalidität [30] und Reliabilität [28,31] des Instruments hin.…”

Perceived social status among people with psychiatric disabilities attending work-oriented and meeting place-oriented day centers

“…An instrument in the shape of a social ladder, (27), was used to assess perceived social status. There are two versions of the ladder and the one used in this study was the society ladder which has shown good test-retest stability (28). The participants were asked to imagine that a ladder with ten steps represented the social status and hierarchy of people in society.…”