high-SES Individuals Research Articles

No agency and responsibility for the privileged? Perceptions of climate action among high socioeconomic status citizens in the United Kingdom

Addressing climate change requires significant individual behaviour change, as well as deep societal transformations to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Individuals with high socioeconomic status (SES; i.e., with relatively higher levels of wealth, income, and education) have an important part to play to deliver these changes. This is because they often have carbon-intense consumer lifestyles, but they also have increased power to address climate change via their other social roles, for example as investors, role models, organisational participants, and citizens. Therefore, the present study was designed to understand how high SES individuals perceive these roles and opportunities, in particular in their workplaces. We recruited 81 individuals in the United Kingdom with high subjective SES and high levels of education and income to take part in an online qualitative study. We performed reflexive thematic analysis and generated 5 main themes; (1) Shifting responsibility to others in the system, (2) Seeing oneself mainly as a consumer, (3) Failure to recognise power within upstream social roles, (4) Climate change is perceived as a distant threat and, (5) Climate action is a positive experience. These findings suggest that to unlock the transformative potential that high SES individuals can bring to climate change mitigation, targeted policy (e.g., progressive frequent flyer levies) and tailored education (e.g., on local and health impacts of climate change; on personal opportunities to support mitigation) is required.

Forecasting Inequalities in Survival to Retirement Age by Socioeconomic Status in Denmark and Sweden

In Denmark and Sweden, statutory retirement age is indexed to life expectancy to account for mortality improvements in their populations. However, mortality improvements have not been uniform across different sub-populations. Notably, in both countries, individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) have experienced slower mortality improvements. As a result, a uniform rise in the statutory retirement age could disproportionally affect these low-SES groups and may unintentionally lead to a reverse redistribution effect, shifting benefits from short-lived low-SES individuals to long-lived high-SES individuals. The aim of this study is twofold: to quantify and contextualise mortality inequalities by SES in Denmark and Sweden, and to assess how indexing retirement age will affect future survival to retirement age by SES in these countries. We used Danish and Swedish registry data (1988–2019), to aggregate individuals aged 50 + based on their demographic characteristics and SES. We computed period life tables by year, sex, and SES to estimate the difference in survival across different SES groups. We then forecast mortality across SES groups to assess how indexing retirement age will affect survival inequalities to retirement age, using two forecasting models—the Mode model and the Li-Lee model. Mortality inequalities are comparable in Denmark and Sweden, even though the latter generally has higher survival. We also find that indexing retirement age to life expectancy will have two main consequences: it will reduce the probability of reaching retirement for all SES groups, particularly those of low SES, and time spent in retirement will be reduced, particularly for those of high SES.

Potential unexpected effects of meat reduction in diet: Could educational attainment influence meat substitution strategies?

Regulation of meat consumption appears to be a relevant public policy to limit diet-related greenhouse gas emissions. However, the real impact of such a policy (e.g., tax) on human health and nutrition remains uncertain, especially for underprivileged individuals. Based on representative data from France, we estimate potential trend differences in the association between meat consumption and nutritional outcomes, such as body mass index (BMI) and unhealthy food intake, according to individual educational attainment. We reveal that among adults with low education levels, reduced meat consumption was significantly associated with a higher BMI, a higher risk of being overweight, and greater intake of ultra-processed foods, sweet drinks, and sugar. By contrast, reduced meat consumption was associated with healthier nutritional status for the most educated individuals. These results are robust to several measurements of socioeconomic status (SES) such as household income, occupation, and financial insecurity perception. In summary, high-SES individuals may be more prone to replace meat with healthy alternatives, whereas low-SES individuals may tend to replace meat with energy-dense foods and beverages, including ultra-processed foods. In terms of the contribution to science and society, this study is the first to show that SES changes the relationship between meat consumption and nutritional outcomes. Our findings call for future research on this topic to provide actionable recommendations to implement a fair and healthy food transition.

Socioeconomic status is negatively associated with immunosenescence but positively associated with inflammation among middle-aged women in Cebu, Philippines

BackgroundSocioeconomic status (SES) gradients in health are well-documented, and while biological pathways are incompletely understood, chronic inflammation and accelerated immune aging (immunosenescence) among lower SES individuals have been implicated. However, previous findings have come from samples in higher income countries, and it is unclear how generalizable they are to lower- and middle-income countries (LMIC) with different infectious exposures and where adiposity—an important contributor to chronic inflammation—might show different SES patterning. To address this gap, we explored associations between SES and inflammation and immunosenescence in a sample of women in Cebu, Philippines. MethodsData came from the mothers of the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey birth cohort (mean age: 47.7, range: 35–69 years). SES was measured as a combination of annual household income, education level, and assets. Chronic inflammation was measured using C-reactive protein (CRP) in plasma samples from 1,834 women. Immunosenescence was measured by the abundance of exhausted CD8T (CD8 + CD28-CD45RA-) and naïve CD8T and CD4T cells, estimated from DNA methylation in whole blood in a random subsample of 1,028. Possible mediators included waist circumference and a collection of proxy measures of pathogen exposure. ResultsSES was negatively associated with the measures of immunosenescence, with slight evidence for mediation by a proxy measure for pathogen exposure from the household’s drinking water source. In contrast, SES was positively associated with CRP, which was explained by the positive association with waist circumference. ConclusionsSimilar to higher income populations, in Cebu there is an SES-gradient in pathogen exposures and immunosenescence. However, lifestyle changes occurring more rapidly among higher SES individuals is contributing to a positive association between SES and adiposity and inflammation. Our results suggest more studies are needed to clarify the relationship between SES and inflammation and immunosenescence across LMIC.

Prevalence and Characteristics of Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Area.

Almost all epidemiologic studies estimating autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevalence have focused on school-age children. This study provides the first population-based data on the prevalence and expression of ASD among adolescents in a large US metropolitan region. Active multiple source ASD surveillance of adolescents aged 16-years was conducted according to the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network method in a four-county New Jersey metropolitan region. Prevalence estimates are provided, characteristics are described and comparison of the distribution and characteristics of ASD is offered for this cohort, at 8 and 16-years. ASD prevalence was 17.7 per 1000 (95% CI: 16.3-19.2)]. One-in-55 males and one in 172 females were identified with ASD. High-SES was positively associated with ASD and White adolescents had higher ASD prevalence (22.2 per 1000) than Hispanic adolescents (13.1 per 1000). One in four study-confirmed individuals with ASD did not have an ASD diagnosis. A majority of ASD adolescents (58.8%) had a co-occurring neuropsychiatric disorder. White and High-SES individuals had greater likelihood of co-occurring disorder. The demographic distribution and functional profile of ASD was similar in this cohort at 8 and 16-years. Approximately one-in-55 adolescents in our area had ASD, in 2014, and one-in-4 16-year-olds with ASD was not diagnosed. A majority (3-in-5) of the adolescents with ASD had a co-occurring neuropsychiatric disorder. ASD under-identification and the high frequency of co-disorders in adolescents with ASD pose significant challenges to care and support.

Determinants of inequality acceptability in a representative sample of the Spanish population

Why is there general support for equality-enhancing policies in some social contexts, while in others, social inequalities seem to be widely regarded as acceptable? In the last sixty years, this research question has been raised hundreds of times across the social sciences. Here, we use a survey-experimental design that may overcome some of the limitations of previous studies. Three sets of determinants of inequality acceptability are explored: individual socioeconomic status (SES), societal economic inequality, and the source or origin of inequality. The results of a survey experiment conducted in 2020 based on a representative sample confirm that inequalities are considered fairer by high-SES individuals and when they are due to performance. Although the effect of societal inequality on preferences is less robust, we find that in more unequal contexts, equal distributions are judged to be fairer.

Social Class and Social Pain: Target SES Biases Judgments of Pain and Support for White Target Individuals.

Social pain, defined as distress caused by negative interpersonal experiences (e.g., ostracism, mistreatment), is detrimental to health. Yet, it is unclear how social class might shape judgments of the social pains of low-socioeconomic status (SES) and high-SES individuals. Five studies tested competing toughness and empathy predictions for SES's effect on social pain judgments. Consistent with an empathy account, in all studies (Ncumulative = 1,046), low-SES White targets were judged more sensitive to social pain than high-SES White targets. Further, empathy mediated these effects, such that participants felt greater empathy and expected more social pain for low-SES targets relative to high-SES targets. Social pain judgments also informed judgments of social support needs, as low-SES targets were presumed to need more coping resources to manage hurtful events than high-SES targets. The current findings provide initial evidence that empathic concern for low-SES White individuals sensitizes social pain judgments and increases expected support needs for lower class White individuals.

Measurement and Decomposition of Socioeconomic Inequality in Metabolic Syndrome: A Cross-sectional Analysis of the RaNCD Cohort Study in the West of Iran.

Socioeconomic inequality in metabolic syndrome (MetS) remains poorly understood in Iran. The present study examined the extent of the socioeconomic inequalities in MetS and quantified the contribution of its determinants to explain the observed inequality, with a focus on middle-aged adults in Iran. This cross-sectional study used data from the Ravansar Non-Communicable Disease cohort study. A sample of 9975 middle-aged adults aged 35-65 years was analyzed. MetS was assessed based on the International Diabetes Federation definition. Principal component analysis was used to construct socioeconomic status (SES). The Wagstaff normalized concentration index (CIn) was employed to measure the magnitude of socioeconomic inequalities in MetS. Decomposition analysis was performed to identify and calculate the contribution of the MetS inequality determinants. The proportion of MetS in the sample was 41.1%. The CIn of having MetS was 0.043 (95% confidence interval, 0.020 to 0.066), indicating that MetS was more concentrated among individuals with high SES. The main contributors to the observed inequality in MetS were SES (72.0%), residence (rural or urban, 46.9%), and physical activity (31.5%). Our findings indicated a pro-poor inequality in MetS among Iranian middle-aged adults. These results highlight the importance of persuading middle-aged adults to be physically active, particularly those in an urban setting. In addition to targeting physically inactive individuals and those with low levels of education, policy interventions aimed at mitigating socioeconomic inequality in MetS should increase the focus on high-SES individuals and the urban population.

Individuals of high socioeconomic status are altruistic in sharing money but egoistic in sharing time

The questions of whether and how socioeconomic status (SES) predicts prosocial behavior have sparked an interest from different disciplines, yet experimental evidence is inconclusive. We embedded two types of dictator games in a web survey with 7772 participants from Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the US. Each participant was asked to split a sum of money and a fixed amount of time between themself and a recipient. While higher-SES individuals are more generous than lower-SES individuals in the money game, they are more egoistic in the time game. In addition, the SES of the recipient matters more in the money game than in the time game. These results point towards the relevancy of a situationally contingent social norm of redistribution in studying the relationship between SES and prosocial behavior.

Morality in the era of smart devices

PurposeDoes using smart devices change people's moral standards? The objective of this paper is to investigate how people's moral behavioral intentions while employing smart devices are modulated by their socioeconomic status (SES; as measured by educational level and income).Design/methodology/approachParticipants were randomly assigned to either the smart devices condition or the non-smart devices condition, and their moral standards was measured by the adapted Moral Foundations Questionnaire. Data were collected from both China and the UK.FindingsIndividuals' SES moderated people's moral standards when using smart devices. Specifically, when employing smart devices (vs non-smart devices), moral standards declined for low-SES individuals. However, the effect of employing smart devices was not significant for high-SES individuals. This suggests that certain demographics may be more inclined to harm others with smart devices.Practical implicationsIn emerging markets, the widespread of smart devices in workplace may lower consumers' and employees' moral standards for certain demographics. Managers and marketers need to be aware of this erosion of morality and employ some preventive measures in advance.Originality/valueThis paper examined morality in the era of smart devices. Even though the use of smart devices has become a norm in developed markets, smart devices usage is still on the rise in emerging markets. The authors findings enhance the understanding of moral behaviors and contribute to the knowledge of how smart devices are changing human behaviors.

Socioeconomic status and the likelihood of informal care provision in Japan: An analysis considering survival probability of care recipients.

Studies show that the burden of caregiving tends to fall on individuals of low socioeconomic status (SES); however, the association between SES and the likelihood of caregiving has not yet been established. We studied the relationship between SES and the likelihood of adults providing long-term care for their parents in Japan, where compulsory public long-term insurance has been implemented. We used the following six comprehensive measures of SES for the analysis: income, financial assets, expenditure, living conditions, housing conditions, and education. We found that for some SES measures the probability of care provision for parents was greater in higher SES categories than in the lowest category, although the results were not systematically related to the order of SES categories or consistent across SES measures. The results did not change even after the difference in the probability of parents' survival according to SES was considered. Overall, we did not find evidence that individuals with lower SES were more likely to provide care to parents than higher-SES individuals. Although a negative association between SES and care burden has been repeatedly reported in terms of care intensity, the caregiving decision could be different in relation to SES. Further research is necessary to generalize the results.

Poverty and pain: Low-SES people are believed to be insensitive to pain

Across 10 experiments (N = 1584), we investigated biases in assumptions about pain sensitivity as an explanation for pain treatment disparities across socioeconomic status (SES). We find that lower-SES individuals are believed to feel less pain than higher-SES individuals (Studies 1a-1c), and this effect persists across target demographics including race (i.e., White individuals, Black individuals) and gender (i.e., men, women; Studies 2–3). Next, we examined two potential mechanisms underlying the effect of SES on pain sensitivity: dehumanization and beliefs about life hardship (Studies 4–5). We observed supporting evidence for the differential life hardship account of pain sensitivity biases across SES. Finally, we investigated the downstream consequences of biased pain perception of pain sensitivity for medical care and treatment recommendations, finding that both lay participants (Studies 6–7) and medical providers (Study 8) believe that low-SES individuals are less sensitive to pain and therefore require less intensive pain management. This systematic bias in judgments of pain sensitivity across SES has implications for psychological theory and equitable pain treatment.

Socioeconomic status and mental illness stigma: the impact of mental illness controllability attributions and personal responsibility judgments

Background Prior research has suggested that higher levels of socioeconomic status (SES) may be linked with heightened mental illness stigma (MIS). It has been posited that this link is due to the resource-rich environment high-SES individuals live in, which predisposes them to seeing the certain phenomena as being more controllable in nature than low-SES individuals. Aims The current study intended to address the attributional mechanisms behind the SES-MIS link. Methods In a sample of 932 participants, we collected self-reported SES along with the controllability attributions and personal responsibility judgments participants make for individuals with mental illnesses. Results Analyses indicated that SES was significantly associated with greater MIS levels, and that this link was significantly mediated by controllability attributions and personal responsibility judgments. Conclusions Findings suggest that high-SES individuals are more likely to see mental illness as due to internal, controllable factors, which leads to blaming the individual for mental illness onset and, ultimately, greater mental illness stigma. These results provide support for more socioeconomically diverse committees and panels where mental health funding decisions are made due to inherent attributional biases which may be present along the SES spectrum.

What explains socioeconomic inequalities in dental flossing? Cross-sectional results from the RaNCD cohort study.

SummaryIntroductionThe magnitude and underlying determinants of socioeconomic inequality in dental flossing are poorly understood in Iran. This study aimed to measure and decompose socioeconomic inequalities in dental flossing in Ravansar, Iran.MethodsData of 10,002 individuals aged 35-65 years who participated in the Ravansar Non- communicable Diseases (RaNCD) cohort study in Kermanshah province, western Iran, were analyzed. Based on an asset-based method, socioeconomic status (SES) was measured using principal component analysis (PCA). The concentration index and curve were employed to measure socioeconomic inequality in dental flossing. Decomposition analysis was used to estimate the contribution of each determinant to the overall inequality.ResultsOf 10,002 participants, 11.74% were found to practice dental floss. The normalized CI for dental flossing was 0.327 in the entire population, 0.323 in females and 0.329 in males, indicating that the use of dental floss is more concentrated among high-SES individuals. The decomposition analysis indicated that SES (50.58%) and level of education (44.90%) respectively contributed the most to this inequality. Place of residence (10.55%) and age group (2.7%) were the next main contributors, respectively.ConclusionsWe found a low prevalence of dental flossing among participants in RaNCD study. We also observed a relatively high degree of pro-rich inequality in dental flossing. The observed inequality was mainly explained by socioeconomic status, level of education and place of residence. Policy interventions should consider these factors to reduce inequalities in dental flossing.

Low socioeconomic status and eating in the absence of hunger in children aged 3–14

A growing body of research indicates that one's early life experiences may play an important role in regulating patterns of energy intake in adulthood. In particular, adults who grew up under conditions characterized by low socioeconomic status (SES) tend to eat in the absence of hunger (EAH), a pattern that is not generally observed among higher-SES individuals. In the current study, we sought to examine (a) the environmental correlates of low SES that drive the association between low childhood SES and EAH and (b) whether the relationship between these variables is already manifest in children ages 3–14. Results of our study revealed that growing up in low-SES environments predicted less food security, diminished ability to meet financial needs, and less environmental predictability/safety. Further, the results indicated that reduced environmental predictability/safety in the children's environment interacted with children's current energy need to predict eating behavior. Consistent with patterns observed in adults, children from more predictable/safe environments ate food commensurate with their energy need, whereas those from less predictable/safe environments ate comparably high amounts of food across levels of energy need. These results offer needed insights into the development of environmentally-contingent energy-regulation strategies.

ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND FUTURE THOUGHT AMONG OLDER ADULTS

Cumulative advantage theory sees inequality extending into later life. Does inequality also extend to the imagination of one’s future and desires for life yet to come? We draw from semi-structured interviews with 55 individuals residing in Midwest cities to explore differences in talk about finances and expectations for longevity, fulfillment, and “active” pursuits. Addressing personal futures, participants’ desires for longevity varied. Lower SES individuals discussed not having expected to live to their current age (or much beyond it) and not wanting to live a long time. Higher SES individuals, by contrast, expressed confidence that they could afford care no matter how long they lived. Higher SES participants often described future leisure goals whereas lower SES participants tended not to name leisure goals, or they named activities they desired but could not afford. For low SES individuals, active pursuits also were limited by diseases disproportionately affecting poor Americans, such as diabetes.

Instability in longitudinal childhood IQ scores of Guatemalan high SES individuals born between 1941-1953.

Childhood IQ has been used to predict later life outcomes across disciplines in epidemiology, education, and psychology. Most often only a single childhood IQ test is available or is used for these purposes in the belief that IQ is stable across the life course. The primary aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal stability of individuals’ IQ test scores derived from school-age tests. The secondary aim was to investigate the association of the pre-adult scores with later life intelligence scores. The longitudinal pre-adult IQ scores of 42 high socioeconomic status Guatemalans born 1941–1953 were analysed and showed low stability of longitudinal test scores. Fluctuations of >1SD were found for 59.5% of the sample. The same participants, aged 64–76 years, were re-assessed and average pre-adult IQ explained 12% of variance in the older age intelligence score. The reasons behind the longitudinal instability in test scores reported in this study remains unknown but the results suggest single point measurements of intelligence before adulthood should be regarded with some caution.

Socioeconomic Status and Macroeconomic Expectations

Abstract We show that individuals’ macroeconomic expectations are influenced by their socioeconomic status (SES). People with higher income or higher education are more optimistic about future macroeconomic developments, including business conditions, the national unemployment rate, and stock market returns. The spread in beliefs between high- and low-SES individuals diminishes significantly during recessions. A comparison with professional forecasters and historical data reveals that the beliefs wedge reflects excessive pessimism on the part of low-SES individuals. SES-driven expectations help explain why higher-SES individuals are more inclined to invest in the stock market and more likely to consider purchasing homes, durable goods, or cars. Received November 13, 2017; editorial decision February 12, 2019 by Editor Wei Jiang. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.

Assessing Economic Resources in Retirement: The Role of Irregular Withdrawals from Tax-Advantaged Retirement Accounts

Irregular withdrawals from IRAs and DC pensions are not included in standard measures of household income in the CPS or Health and Retirement Study. Yet, among retirees such withdrawals can supplement regular retirement income to finance consumption. It has been difficult to assess their importance, because of lack of informative survey data. In 2012 the HRS restructured the way it collects information about pensions, improving the measurement of irregular withdrawals from pension accounts. We analyzed HRS 2014 data and found that irregular withdrawals from pensions and IRAs totaled $2,049 for singles and $6,663 for couples averaged over everyone age 55 and older. These irregular withdrawals amount to about 5 percent of income for singles and 10 percent of income for married households. Irregular withdrawals are highest among those in the highest wealth quartile and those in the highest education group, reflecting the higher prevalence of pensions in high-paying jobs that are predominantly held by those with high education. Because of the greater frequency of IRA and pension withdrawals towards high SES individuals, accounting for them has little impact on estimates of the poverty rate.

African Americans and Caribbean Blacks: Perceived neighborhood disadvantage and depression.

The purpose of this study was to advance a theoretical understanding of the effects of impoverished neighborhoods on mental health and to inform policy measures encouraging residents to leave such neighborhoods. To do this, we investigated whether individuals' perceived neighborhood disadvantage served as a risk factor for clinical depression in a nationally representative sample of African Americans and Caribbean Blacks. We performed logistic regression analysis on stratified socioeconomic status (SES) subsamples from the National Survey of American Life sample of 5,019 African Americans and Caribbean Blacks. The association between perceived neighborhood social disorder and past-year depression was statistically significant for low-SES individuals (at or below the federal poverty line; odds ratio [OR]=1.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.07, 2.81], p=0.026) and at the boundary of significance for middle-SES individuals (between 100% and 300% of the poverty line; OR=1.74, 95% CI [1.00, 3.02], p=0.052), but not for high-SES individuals (at or above 300% of the poverty line). Results suggest, at least for low- and middle-income African Americans, perceived neighborhood social disorder is a risk factor for depression. U.S. housing policies aimed at neighborhood improvement and poverty de-concentration may benefit the mental health of low-income African Americans and Caribbean Blacks.