58: Developmental trajectories in perceived social status

Abstract

Perceptions of social status (PSS) have been associated with physical and mental health in adolescence. These associations are based on PSS at a single point in time. Because teens undergo important cognitive, social, and biological changes, PSS may change as adolescents age, yet such changes have not been assessed. The purpose of this study was to describe developmental trajectories in adolescents’ PSS, particularly the role of four important determinants of social status—age, gender, race, and SES. Prospective cohort study of 1179 non-Hispanic black and white 7-12th graders from a single Midwestern public school district. Students completed a validated, teen-specific measure of PSS (range 1-10) yearly for 4 consecutive years. At baseline, date of birth, race, sex was obtained from the school district. Reference categories were black for race and female for sex. A parent provided information on parent education, categories for which were E1: <=high school; E2: vocational training or some college; E3: college graduate; E4: professional degree= reference. ANOVA evaluated correlates of baseline PSS. Markov modeling with linear mixed models, a type of growth curve analysis, assessed how PSS changed as students transitioned through adolescence. White students came from families with higher educated parents (p<.0001). Although median PSS was lower for blacks (6) than whites (7), parent education was the only significant correlate of baseline PSS. Those with lower parent education had lower PSS (βE1=−.89, βE2=−.76, βE3=−.51, p<.0001 for all). As subjects aged, the correlations between yearly PSS rankings increased (p=.0004) from .46 (95%CI=.42, .51) to .61 (95%CI=.56, .64), suggesting the PSS stabilizes over time. In Markov modeling, the past year’s PSS (lag_PSS) strongly influenced the next year’s PSS (βlag_PSS, =.31, p=.03), as did race (βrace=−.20, p=.04) and age (βage=−.15, p=.004). Education modified the effect of race and lag_PSS on the next year’s PSS, as evidenced by 2 interaction terms, education by race (RxE1 β=−.23, RxE2 β=−.31, RxE3 β=−.18, p=.03) and education by lag_PSS (lag x E1 β=−.12, lag x E2 β=−.10, lag x E3 β=−.06, p=.02). Lag_PSS also interacted with race (β=−.07, p=.01), and age (β=.02, p=.002). These interactions indicate changes in how education, race and age influence adolescents’ transitions from one year’s PSS to the next. As lag_PSS increases, the direction of the effect of the interacting variable reverses. The R x E interaction indicates that, at the same level of parent education, whites tended to transition to lower PSS than blacks when the past year PSS was low, but, when the past year PSS was high, whites transitioned to higher PSS than blacks. This cross-over effect is the most pronounced for lower level of education. SES is the major determinant of PSS. As teens age, PSS is also influenced by multiple social factors related to social disadvantage. These factors change how prior perceptions of status influence future perceptions. The pattern of relationships is complex and suggests differing developmental trajectories which may influence health.