Abstract
We ask whether subjective socioeconomic status (SES) predicts who develops a common cold when exposed to a cold virus. 193 healthy men and women ages 21-55 years were assessed for subjective (perceived rank) and objective SES, cognitive, affective and social dispositions, and health practices. Subsequently, they were exposed by nasal drops to a rhinovirus or influenza virus and monitored in quarantine for objective signs of illness and self-reported symptoms. Infection, signs and symptoms of the common cold, and clinical illness (infection and significant objective signs of illness). Increased subjective SES was associated with decreased risk for developing a cold for both viruses. This association was independent of objective SES and of cognitive, affective and social disposition that might provide alternative spurious (third factor) explanations for the association. Poorer sleep among those with lesser subjective SES may partly mediate the association between subjective SES and colds. Increased Subjective SES is associated with less susceptibility to upper respiratory infection, and this association is independent of objective SES, suggesting the importance of perceived relative rank to health.
Highlights
We ask whether subjective socioeconomic status (SES) predicts who develops a common cold when exposed to a cold virus
When both objective SES measures were entered into a linear regression equation predicting subjective SES, they accounted for 2.7% of the variance
Like earlier work on subjective SES, we found that the ladder score predicted health independent of objective markers of SES
Summary
We ask whether subjective socioeconomic status (SES) predicts who develops a common cold when exposed to a cold virus. A number of studies across different populations have found that higher subjective SES, as assessed by the ladder, is associated with better health and that these relations generally remain after controlling for traditional objective measures of SES (Adler, Epel, Castellazzo, & Ickovics, 2000; Hu, Adler, Goldman, Weinstein, & Seeman, 2005; Ostrove, Adler, Kuppermann, & Washington, 2000; Singh-Manoux, Adler, & Marmot, 2003). We control for a range of personality characteristics that might contribute both to judgments of subjective SES and to disease resistance and control for health practices that might mediate an association between subjective SES and resistance
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