Abstract
ABSTRACT Background Research suggests that social status in school plays an important role in the social lives of adolescents and that their social status is associated with their health. Additional knowledge about adolescents’ understanding of social hierarchies could help to explain inequalities in adolescents’ health and guide public health interventions. Objective The study aimed to explore what contributes to subjective social status in school and the strategies used for social positioning. Methods A qualitative research design with think-aloud interviews was used. The study included 57 adolescents in lower (7th grade) and upper secondary school (12th grade) in Sweden. Subjective social status was explored using a slightly modified version of the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status in school. Data were analyzed using thematic network analysis. Results The participants were highly aware of their social status in school. Elements tied to gender, age, ethnicity and parental economy influenced their preconditions in the positioning. In addition, expectations on how to look, act and interact, influenced the pursue for social desirability. The way these different factors intersected and had to be balanced suggests that social positioning in school is complex and multifaceted. Conclusions Because the norms that guided social positioning left little room for diversity, the possible negative impact of status hierarchies on adolescents’ health needs to be considered. In school interventions, we suggest that norms on e.g. gender and ethnicity need to be addressed and problematized from an intersectional approach.
Highlights
Research suggests that social status in school plays an important role in the social lives of adolescents and that their social status is associated with their health
This study aimed to explore what contributes to subjective social status in school and the strategies used for social positioning
By character, largely fixed as they derived from gender, ethnicity, age and parents’ economy, whereas others related to more active choices of how to look, act and interact
Summary
Research suggests that social status in school plays an important role in the social lives of adolescents and that their social status is associated with their health. Objective: The study aimed to explore what contributes to subjective social status in school and the strategies used for social positioning. Expectations on how to look, act and interact, influenced the pursue for social desirability. The way these different factors intersected and had to be balanced suggests that social positioning in school is complex and multifaceted. Social status is often studied using objective socioeconomic measures. Subjective measures enable the study of adolescents’ social positioning (in contrast to socioeconomic mea sures, which represent parental social status)
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