Is subjective social status a summary of life-course socioeconomic position?

Luana Giatti,Lidyane Camelo,Maria Carmen Viana,Sandhi Maria Barreto,Wasney De Almeida Ferreira

doi:10.1590/0102-311x00024317

Abstract

Very little is known about the association between objective indicators of socioeconomic position in childhood and adolescence and low subjective social status in adult life, after adjusting for adult socioeconomic position. We used baseline data (2008-2010) from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil), a multicenter cohort study of 15,105 civil servants from six Brazilian states. Subjective social status was measured using the The MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status, which represents social hierarchy in the form of a 10-rung ladder with the top rung representing the highest subjective social status. Participants who chose the bottom four rungs in the ladder were assigned to the low subjective social status category. The following socioeconomic position indicators were investigated: childhood (maternal education), adolescence (occupational social class of the household head; participant's occupational social class of first job; nature of occupation of household head; participant's nature of occupation of first job), and adulthood (participant's occupational social class, nature of occupation and education). The associations between low subjective social status and socioeconomic position were determined using multiple logistic regression, after adjusting for sociodemographic factors and socioeconomic position indicators from other stages of life. After adjustments, low socioeconomic position in childhood, adolescence and adulthood remained significantly associated with low subjective social status in adulthood with dose-response gradients. The magnitude of these associations was stronger for intra-individual than for intergenerational socioeconomic positions. Results suggest that subjective social status in adulthood is the result of a complex developmental process of acquiring socioeconomic self-perception, which is intrinsic to subjective social status and includes current and past, individual and family household experiences.

Highlights

There is substantial evidence that individuals with low socioeconomic status have poorer health conditions compared to those with higher socioeconomic positions
Of the 15.105 participants, 54.4% were women, the mean age was 52.1 years (95%CI: 45-58), 80.3% were occupationally active, 51.6% were white, and 10.7% placed themselves in the low social status (SSS) category
The prevalence of low SSS was inversely related to the occupational social class of the household head and the participants’ occupational social class of their first and current jobs (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

There is substantial evidence that individuals with low socioeconomic status have poorer health conditions compared to those with higher socioeconomic positions. This association has been observed in studies that measured social status using objective indicators such as income, education, and occupation, as well as in studies based on subjective indicators of socioeconomic status [1,2,3,4]

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Discussion

Conclusion