Subjective social status: reliability and predictive utility for global health

Operario, Don; Adler, Nancy E.; Williams, David R.

doi:10.1080/08870440310001638098

Cited by 486 publications

(525 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Moreover, we found that the associations of SSS with waist circumference and CRP in women and with fibrinogen in men became non-significant only in models that adjusted for all objective SES measures. These findings accord with the existing literature suggesting that SSS is related to self-rated health (Franzini & Fernandez-Esquer, 2006;Hu et al, 2005;Operario et al, 2004;Ostrove et al, 2000;Singh-Manoux et al, 2005) and mental health (Franzini & FernandezEsquer, 2006;Singh-Manoux et al, 2005). However, they are not consistent with evidence suggesting that SSS is not related to diabetes in women over and above education (SinghManoux et al, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…A priority for future research should be the longitudinal analysis of the associations examined here so that causality can be established. Secondly, although there is convincing evidence that SSS is not a product of psychological bias Hu et al, 2005;Operario et al, 2004;Singh-Manoux et al, 2003), future research could add to this line of research by testing the associations between SSS and health against potential confounders such as negative affectivity. Further, an examination of the role of gender in the associations of SSS with health outcomes is warranted given the gender differences this study has identified.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, an increasing body of research, mostly cross-sectional, indicates that SSS (measured as a ladder score) relates over and above objective SES markers to self-rated health (Franzini & FernandezEsquer, 2006;Hu et al, 2005;Operario, Adler, & Williams, 2004;Ostrove et al, 2000;SinghManoux, Marmot, & Adler, 2005), mental health (Franzini & Fernandez-Esquer, 2006;SinghManoux et al, 2005), heart rate and sleep latency (Adler, Epel, Castellazzo, & Ickovics, 2000), cortisol levels (Wright & Steptoe, 2005), and dental outcomes (Sanders, Slade, Turrell, Spencer, & Marcenes, 2006). Also, there is evidence that SSS relates to adolescent health (Goodman, Adler, Daniels, Morrison, Slap, & Dolan, 2003;Goodman, Adler, Kawachi, Frazier, Huang, & Colditz, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Socioeconomic status and health: The role of subjective social status

Demakakos

Nazroo

Breeze

et al. 2008

Social Science & Medicine

586

519

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Studies have suggested that subjective social status (SSS) is an important predictor of health. This study examined the link between SSS and health in old age and investigated whether SSS mediated the associations between objective indicators of socioeconomic status and health. It used crosssectional data from the second wave (2004-05) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, which were collected through personal interviews and nurse visits. The study population consisted of 3368 men and 4065 women aged 52 years or older. The outcome measures included: self-rated health, long-standing illness, depression, hypertension, diabetes, central obesity, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, fibrinogen, and C-reactive protein. The main independent variable was SSS measured using a scale representing a 10-rung ladder. Wealth, education, and occupational class were employed as covariates along with age and marital status and also, in additional analyses, as the main independent variables. Gender-specific logistic and linear regression analyses were performed. In age-adjusted analyses SSS was related positively to almost all health outcomes. Many of these relationships remained significant after adjustment for covariates. In men, SSS was significantly (p≤0.05) related to self-rated health, depression, and long-standing illness after adjustment for all covariates, while its association with fibrinogen became non-significant. In women, after adjusting for all covariates, SSS was significantly associated with self-rated health, depression, long-standing illness, diabetes, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, but its associations with central obesity and C-reactive protein became non-significant. Further analysis suggested that SSS mediated fully or partially the associations between education, occupational class and self-reported and clinical health measures. On the contrary, SSS did not mediate wealth's associations with the outcome measures, except those with self-reported health measures. Our results suggest that SSS is an important correlate of health in old age, possibly because of its ability to epitomize life-time achievement and socioeconomic status.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Socioeconomic status and health: The role of subjective social status

Demakakos

Nazroo

Breeze

et al. 2008

Social Science & Medicine

586

519

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…11,12,18 Subjective social status has been validated in a large multiethnic sample examining test-retest reliability and predictive utility. 9 …”

Section: Measures Predictor Variablementioning

confidence: 99%

“…[6][7][8] Recently, there has been an emerging interest in the relationship between subjective social status (SSS) and health. [9][10][11][12][13][14] This is because a person's assessment of where they stand in relation to others may capture intangible factors of SES that influence health but that traditional measures of SES fail to ascertain. 15 Subjective reports of social status may concisely integrate a person's experience of stress, social position, and perception of inequality, or even the cumulative effect of changing SES over a lifetime.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%