Measures Of Social Status Research Articles

Friendship networks and social status

AbstractIn empirical studies of friendship networks, participants are typically asked, in interviews or questionnaires, to identify some or all of their close friends, resulting in a directed network in which friendships can, and often do, run in only one direction between a pair of individuals. Here we analyze a large collection of such networks representing friendships among students at US high and junior-high schools and show that the pattern of unreciprocated friendships is far from random. In every network, without exception, we find that there exists a ranking of participants, from low to high, such that almost all unreciprocated friendships consist of a lower ranked individual claiming friendship with a higher ranked one. We present a maximum-likelihood method for deducing such rankings from observed network data and conjecture that the rankings produced reflect a measure of social status. We note in particular that reciprocated and unreciprocated friendships obey different statistics, suggesting different formation processes, and that rankings are correlated with other characteristics of the participants that are traditionally associated with status, such as age and overall popularity as measured by total number of friends.

Subjektiver Sozialstatus und gesundheitsbezogene Lebensqualität bei Erwachsenen in Deutschland

The impact of subjective perception of social status on health has been analysed in international health research for several years. However, in Germany the empirical analysis of the relation between subjective social status (SSS) and health is still in the very early stages. This study investigates if health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in German adults is associated with SSS over and above conventional measures of social status. The results are based on the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS 2010), a representative cross-sectional survey of the adult resident population in Germany (n=2 827). HRQoL was assessed with 4 items referring to self-rated health (SRH) and impairment of well-being due to bodily pain, depressiveness, and loneliness. SSS was measured with a 10-point scale where participants rated their status in society. The impact of SSS on HRQoL was analysed separately for men and women using logistic regression models adjusted for age, school education, net equivalent household income, and occupational position. Poorer SRH, bodily pain, depressiveness, and loneliness occurred significantly more often in men and women with low SSS compared to those with higher SSS. After adjusting for age, education, income, and occupation, the effects of SSS on SRH and depressiveness remained significant in men and women (SRH: men: OR=4.76; 95% CI=2.52-8.99; women: OR=2.95; 95% CI=1.74-4.99; depressiveness: men: OR=2.86; 95% CI=1.60-5.10; women: OR=2.75; 95% CI=1.65-4.56). The effects of SSS on bodily pain and loneliness were observed only in women after adjustment for objective status indicators (OR=1.75; 95% CI=1.07-2.86 and OR=3.03; 95% CI=1.43-6.42, respectively). These findings indicate that self-perception of social disadvantage affects HRQoL in German adults independently and partly gender-specifically. Hence, complementary to objective status indicators the SSS offers additional potential for describing and explaining health inequalities.

Maternal hyperinsulinism and glycaemic status in the first trimester of pregnancy are associated with the development of pregnancy-induced hypertension and gestational diabetes

To evaluate the relationships across a range of glucose and insulin measures at 12 weeks of gestation with the development of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and birth size. Prospective study of pregnant women booking before 15th week of gestation. At the first antenatal visit, standard measures of height, weight, blood pressure (BP) and social status were recorded, and blood sample was drawn for measurements of fasting glucose and plasma insulin. Oral glucose tolerance test with 75 g glucose load was performed after overnight fast. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CI were calculated to determine the risk of developing PIH or GDM depending on quartiles of blood glucose or tertiles of plasma insulin levels. One thousand six hundred and fifty pregnant women were included in the study. Of them, 1484 delivered a live infant of whom 70 were preterm, 166 did not complete the study, 155 mothers developed PIH (10.4%), 18 were diagnosed with GDM (1.2%) and four had both PIH and GDM. At 12 weeks of gestation, women who became hypertensive were heavier (P<0.001), with higher BMI (P<0.001) than controls. Both systolic (P<0.001) and diastolic BPs (P<0.001) were already higher in women who developed PIH. Fasting insulin concentrations were higher in PIH group (P<0.002). Fasting glucose level >6.8 mmol/l was associated with the likelihood of delivering a macrosomic baby (OR 3.1 (95% CI: 1.21-8.0); P=0.02); the effect was heightened in multiparous mothers (OR 4.0 (95% CI: 1.4-11.1); P=0.01). Fasting plasma insulin had, however, no effect on size at birth in this study. Our data suggest that women who develop PIH may be metabolically challenged at early stages of pregnancy with hyperinsulinism, insulin insensitivity and slightly higher BP.

Children's Cross‐Ethnic Relationships in Elementary Schools: Concurrent and Prospective Associations Between Ethnic Segregation and Social Status

This study examined whether ethnic segregation is concurrently (fall) and prospectively (fall to spring) associated with social status among 4th- and 5th-grade African American and European American children (n = 713, ages 9-11 years). Segregation measures were (a) same-ethnicity favoritism in peer affiliations and (b) cross-ethnicity dislike. Social status measures were same- and cross-ethnicity peer nominations of acceptance, rejection, and cool. Among African Americans, fall segregation predicted declines in cross-ethnicity (European American) acceptance and same-ethnicity rejection, and increases in same-ethnicity acceptance and perceived coolness. For European American children, fall segregation predicted declines in cross-ethnicity (African American) acceptance and increases in cross-ethnicity rejection. Results indicate that segregation induces asymmetric changes in social status for African American and European American children.

Perception is Reality: Effect of Subjective Versus Objective Socio-economic Position on Quality of Life

We tested the hypothesis that the relationship between social class measured according to employment relations and conditions and quality of life in older people was due to the influence of social class on the perception individuals had about their place in a social hierarchy. We used the data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) in which both an occupation-based measure, the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) and a subjective measure of social status (SSS) were included. Quality of life was measured using a 19-item Likert-scaled questionnaire (CASP-19). We found that even in the employed, SSS explained quality of life better than NS-SEC. The path analysis revealed that the effects of most NS-SEC categories on quality of life were fully mediated by SSS. The effect of SSS on quality of life was independent of advantageous occupational conditions, favourable life circumstances or mental health.

Abstract B19: Understanding racial/ethnic and multilevel socioeconomic disparities in survival after breast cancer.

Abstract Background: Racial/ethnic disparities in survival after breast cancer persist, even after accounting for socioeconomic status (SES); however, few studies have evaluated both individual and neighborhood SES jointly. In particular, evaluating the interactions between multiple components of social status (e.g., race/ethnicity, SES, nativity) simultaneously may help us to better understand the survival disparities. Our hypothesis is that social status measures jointly influence health. Methods: Our study included 4,405 breast cancer patients diagnosed in the period 1995-2008, representing non-Latina whites (n=1068), Latinas (n=1670), African Americans (n=993) and Asian Americans (n=674) from two population-based studies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Using stage-stratified Cox proportional hazards models, we assessed the association between race/ethnicity and all-cause and breast cancer-specific survival, after adjusting for education, neighborhood SES (nSES), and other prognostic factors (e.g., treatment, reproductive, and lifestyle factors). We also examined the interaction of 3 social status variables (race/ethnicity, education (low=≤HS graduation/high=≥ some college) and neighborhood SES (low=quintiles 1-3/high=quintiles 4-5)) on survival. Results: All cause survival was worse for African Americans (HR=1.37, 95% CI=1.14-1.64) and better for Latinas (HR=0.77, 95% CI=0.64-0.92) and Asian Americans (HR=0.83, 95% CI=0.65-1.08) compared to non-Latina whites after adjusting for age, study, tumor characteristics. Additionally adjusting for treatment, reproductive and lifestyle factors attenuated associations for African Americans, such that they had similar survival to non-Latina whites, whereas the better survival observed among Latinas and Asian Americans remained. Social status disparities in survival after breast cancer were also evident in models considering the racial/ethnic and SES interactions. Compared to high education/high nSES non-Latina whites, all-cause survival was worse for low education/low nSES non-Latina whites, low nSES African Americans (regardless of education), and low education/low nSES Asian Americans, whereas all-cause survival was better for high nSES Latinas (regardless of education) and high education/high nSES Asian Americans. Accounting for additional prognostic factors attenuated associations for low education/low nSES Whites and low education/low nSES Asian Americans. Similar patterns were observed for breast cancer-specific survival. Discussion: Racial/ethnic disparities in survival after breast cancer persisted after adjusting for education, neighborhood SES and other prognostic factors. Our findings of racial/ethnic disparities in survival are consistent with prior literature. When simultaneously accounting for multiple social statuses, we found that disparities existed within and across racial/ethnic groups. We were able to identify specific subgroups based on multiple dimensions of social status that are at increased and decreased risk of mortality (e.g., African Americans in low SES neighborhoods, Asians with low education and low nSES, and Latinas in high nSES). These subpopulations would benefit from further study to better understand their risk profiles and for targeting specific interventions. Citation Format: Salma Shariff-Marco, Juan Yang, Meera Sangaramoorthy, Andrew Hertz, Esther M. John, Jocelyn Koo, David O. Nelson, Clayton Schupp, Theresa H.M. Keegan, Scarlett Lin Gomez. Understanding racial/ethnic and multilevel socioeconomic disparities in survival after breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fifth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2012 Oct 27-30; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2012;21(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B19.

OP75 The Relative Importance of Objective and Subjective Socio-Economic and School-Based Social Status for Adolescent Health and Substance use

BackgroundContrasting with findings from adults and children, most studies of adolescents find little variation in health according to conventional (objective) socio-economic status (SES) measures. Adolescent smoking is patterned by SES,...

Accumulated Financial Strain and Women's Health Over Three Decades

Drawing from cumulative inequality theory, this research examines how accumulated financial strain affects women's self-rated health in middle and later life. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women (1967-2003), we employ random-coefficient growth curve models to examine whether recurring financial strain influences women's health, above and beyond several measures of objective social status. Predicted probabilities of poor health were estimated by the frequency of financial strain. Financial strain is associated with rapid declines in women's health during middle and later life, especially for those women who reported recurrent strain. Changes in household income and household wealth were also associated with women's health but did not eliminate the effects due to accumulated financial strain. Accumulated financial strain has long-term effects on women's health during middle and later life. The findings demonstrate the importance of measuring life course exposure to stressors in studies of health trajectories.

Psychosocial status of childhood cancer survivors who develop one or more secondary malignancies*

Objective. Childhood cancer survivors can develop physical, emotionaland psychosocial adversities, a secondary malignancy (SM) beingone of the most serious among them. Th e aim of our research was tostudy whether the development of SM was related to the psychosocialfunctioning of survivors, especially whether any psychic trauma fromthe fi rst experience would be aggravated by SM. Patients and methods.Seventy – fi ve childhood cancer survivors with SM were matched with75 survivors who did not develop SM, by sex, age, living enviroment,diagnosis, year of diagnosis and treatment of the fi rst malignancy. Th eywere compared regarding education, employment, marital status and,in the 35 women, childbirth data. Seventeen childhood survivors withan SM had had psychological evaluations at diagnosis of both theirfi rst and secondary cancers; the results of the two were compared. Results.Th ere were no diff erences in the schooling, education, social,marital status or birth specifi cs between survivors with SM and theircontrols, nor were there marked diff erences in measures of social orpsychological status. Conclusions. Th e socioeconomic status of these75 subjects was not found to be related to the development of SM. Psychologicalevaluations showed no marked diff erences between thoseconducted aft er the fi rst and the secondary malignancies.

Abstract B20: Examining measures of socioeconomic status for cancer disparities research

Abstract Background: Recent advances in cancer disparities research highlight the importance of understanding the relationship between race, SES, and cancer outcomes. However, SES is often difficult to operationalize in nuanced ways in health-related studies. This paper examines the utility of two emerging measures of subjective social status adapted from the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health Socio-demographic questionnaire. I also analyze responses of parents within the same family, and examine discrepancies in parental reports of SES. Method: Data come from an IRB-approved mixed-methods study of parents of pediatric cancer patients. Patients were sampled through a Pediatric Oncology clinic at an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Northeast US. For two-parent families we attempted to recruit both parents to the study. Data come from the survey component of the study, and analyses focus on respondents’ responses to income, education, and subjective social status measures. The first subjective social status measure asks participants to place themselves on a ladder that represents the US social hierarchy, and the second asks respondents to place themselves on a ladder that represents their self-defined community (Singh-Manoux et al. 2003; Singh-Manoux et al. 2005). Findings: The final sample consisted of 74 parents of pediatric cancer patients. Seventy-eight percent of the sample was White, and 22% was Black. As expected, I find significant associations between respondent income and their subjective social status. The poorest respondents were significantly more likely to place themselves on the bottom third of both the US and community ladders, while respondents who made more than $50,000 annually were more likely to put themselves in the top of both ladders (US ladder: x2 = 34.646, p &amp;lt;.001; Community ladder x2 = 16.356, p&amp;lt;.050). Education was significantly associated with respondents’ responses to the US ladder (x2 = 16.023, p &amp;lt;.010), but not the community ladder. Black respondents were significantly more likely than White respondents to place themselves in the bottom third of the US ladder (x2 = 12.536, p &amp;lt; .010) but there was no significant difference between White and Black respondents’ responses to the community ladder. Twenty-five of the families in the sample were represented by two parents, which allowed examination of discrepancies in parental reporting of income and both measures of subjective social status. Parents with lower household income were significantly more likely to have discrepancies between parents in responding to the community ladder (x2 = 26.449 p&amp;lt; .010), but not the US ladder. Black respondents were significantly more likely to have discrepancies between parental reports of household income (x2 = 11.431 p&amp;lt; .010), and responses to the community ladder (x2 = 22.546 p&amp;lt; .001), than white respondents. There were no significant associations between respondent income or education and parental discrepancies in responses to items measuring total household income, or the US ladder. Conclusions: Findings have important implications for measurement and design of future cancer disparities research. The associations between income, education and the US ladder were in the expected directions. For this sample, the US ladder seems to be capturing a traditional conception of class. Parents in two-parent families were fairly consistent in their responses to the US ladder, suggesting reliability of the measure. The parents’ responses to the community ladder were less predictable, and suggest that this measure may be capturing a distinct dimension of SES beyond acting as a proxy for income or education. Results suggest that the MacArthur US ladder item may be an appropriate measure used to triangulate respondent SES, or in place of income or education items in studies where researchers want to use alternate SES measures. Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011;20(10 Suppl):B20.

Associations between adolescent obesity and both individual and group-level social status

BackgroundDuring adolescence there is an emergence of groupings sharing the same identity and reflecting social status (such as popular, academic or athletic ‘crowds’). Studies have demonstrated gender differences both in...

Law in a social determinants strategy: a public health law research perspective.

Research in social epidemiology over the past three decades has shown convincingly that population health is shaped to a significant degree by fundamental social conditions. The social production of health is sufficiently complex to preclude simple causal attributions, but consistent correlations across populations between health and various measures of social and economic status leave little room for doubt that social arrangements account for an important fraction of population health. Efforts to find the mechanisms of these effects are ongoing, and progress is seen in findings about, for example, the powerful role of stress across the life course.1 Although in the U.S. we tend to hear most about racial/ethnic disparities, these inequities are as much a matter of class as race or ethnicity. Responding to the findings of this social epidemiology is perhaps the true grand challenge of our time in public health. Whether or not it is grand, it is certainly difficult, from both the research and implementation points of view. The efforts of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), described in a 2010 white paper,2 represent an extremely valuable contribution to meeting the challenge of health inequities. In this commentary, I offer a public health law researcher's thoughts on practical efforts to address the social determinants of health (SDH), and how law and research on law can best support the effort. I distinguish two relationships between law and social determinants and suggest—via a quick tour through the work of Geoffrey Rose3—the importance of integrating law more frequently into behavioral and social health research. Of course, this is epidemiology coming from an attorney, so caveat emptor—let the buyer beware'

Achieving online consent to participation in large-scale gene-environment studies: a tangible destination

BackgroundPopulation based genetics studies are dependent on large numbers of individuals in the pursuit of small effect sizes. Recruiting and consenting a large number of participants is both costly and...

Effects of sex, social status and gonadectomy on countermarking by domestic dogs, Canis familiaris

To investigate the social roles of countermarking in dogs, we measured tail base position (TBP, a measure of social status), adjacent-marking and overmarking responses of male, nonoestrous female, gonadectomized male and gonadectomized female dogs to controlled presentations of urine from unfamiliar dogs and social groupmates. We also recorded dog sex, TBP, countermarking and urine investigation at a park. In urine presentations, only males overmarked, intact males (but not gonadectomized males) preferentially overmarked intact female urine, overmarking males had higher TBP than males that did not countermark and urine familiarity did not affect overmarking. In contrast, dogs adjacent-marked only unfamiliar samples, and neither sex nor TBP significantly affected adjacent marking. Gonadectomy did not significantly change the likelihood of countermarking. In dog park observations, males and females marked at and investigated ‘scent posts’ comprised of serial countermarks, often associated with visual landmarks. Males and females were equally likely to countermark and investigate urine and countermarks made up a similarly large portion of countermarking for males and females. Males and females with higher TBP urinated, investigated urine, and countermarked more than same-sex dogs with lower TBP. These studies suggest that although intact males may overmark female urine in part to guard mates as previously hypothesized, both sexes, intact and gonadectomized, likely countermark competitively. Social and sexual patterns also suggest that overmarks and adjacent marks may be distinct signals.

Self-concept of children with intellectual disability in mainstream settings

Background Positive self-concept is an important educational outcome for individuals with disability.Method Perceived competence and acceptance of 17 children with intellectual disability, included in mainstream classes, were assessed using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (PSPCSA) and compared with (a) independently rated academic work samples and measures of social status, and (b) measures of perceived competence and acceptance reported for other populations of individuals with and without disability.Results Perceived competence and acceptance were positive and comparable to previously reported results for individuals with disability and young children without disability. The children's perceived cognitive competence was not consistent with ratings of their work samples but their perceived peer acceptance was more consistent with peer ratings of social status.Conclusion Children with intellectual disability remained positive at an age when self-concept is likely to be negatively impacted by comparisons with higher performing peers.

The influence of social class salience on self-assessed inTelligence

Previous research on self-assessed intelligence (SAI) has been focused on sex differences to the exclusion of other pertinent factors, including objective and subjective social class differences. In this study, 343 participants completed an online questionnaire in which the salience of social class identity was manipulated and measures of self-assessed overall intelligence, participant sex, and objective and subjective social class status were obtained. Results showed that participants of a high social class had a significantly higher SAI when their social class identity was salient, but there was no significant difference in the SAI of low social class groups with or without their social class identity salient. Results also revealed significant sex differences in SAI, but only among participants of a high social class. Overall, these results suggest that social class salience may be an important factor in shaping SAI.

Location in cognitive and residential space at age 70 reflects a lifelong trait over parental and environmental circumstances: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Though mental ability tends to be relatively stable throughout the lifespan, many still argue that late life cognitive function largely reflects education, social class, and environmental circumstances. Instead, it may be that early life cognitive function contributes to each of these in turn, as well as to late life cognitive function. This paper reports the contribution of IQ measured at age 11, adjusting for childhood measures of parental social status, to variation in educational and social class attainment in adulthood, and to cognitive function and environmental quality at age 70. Participants were the1091 members of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. They were born in 1936 and participated in the Scottish Mental Survey 1947. They were living independently in the general area of the City of Edinburgh, Scotland at the time of recruitment and assessment for this study at about age 70. Ages 11 and 70 IQs assessed using the same Moray House Test were correlated .69, and then .61 after adjustment for participants’ own educational and social class attainment, as well as for those of their fathers in childhood. Age 11 IQ was correlated .30 with age 70 environmental quality, and it remained correlated at .15 after adjustment. The attainment measures had significant but much smaller effects on both outcome measures. We conclude that both cognitive function and life circumstances at age 70 reflect lifelong cognitive function to a greater degree than they do life circumstances.

An empirical analysis of ‘acting white’

Using a newly available data set, which allows one to construct a novel measure of a student's social status, we demonstrate that there are potentially important racial differences in the relationship between social status and academic achievement. The effect is concentrated among students with a grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 or higher and more pronounced in schools with more interracial contact. Earlier studies showing a positive relationship between popularity and academic achievement for blacks are sensitive to the inclusion of more continuous achievement measures. We argue that the data are most consistent with a model of ‘acting white’ in which investments in education are taken as a signal of one's opportunity costs of peer-group loyalty, though imprecise estimates make definitive conclusions difficult.

Dopamine Type 2/3 Receptor Availability in the Striatum and Social Status in Human Volunteers

Previous positron emission tomography (PET) imaging studies in nonhuman primates have shown that striatal dopamine type 2/3 (D(2/3)) receptors correlate with social hierarchy in monkeys and that dominant animals exhibit higher levels of D(2/3) receptor binding. The goal of the present study was to examine this phenomena in human subjects using PET and the radiotracer [(11)C]raclopride. Fourteen healthy volunteers were scanned with [(11)C]raclopride to measure D(2/3) receptor binding potential (BP). Social status was assessed using the Barratt Simplified Measure of Social Status. In addition, participants were asked to assess their level of social support using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). A correlation was seen between social status and dopamine D(2/3) receptors, where volunteers with the higher status had higher values for [(11)C]raclopride BP. A similar correlation was seen with the perceived social support, where higher [(11)C]raclopride BP correlated with higher scores on the MSPSS. The results of this study support the hypothesis that social status and social support is correlated with D(2/3) receptor binding.

Religiousness, Religious Coping, and Psychological Well-Being in Nursing Home Residents

To measure the importance of religion among nursing home residents, describe their use of religious coping strategies, and examine the association between religiousness, religious coping, and psychological well-being. Cross-sectional study. Two nursing facilities in Boston, Massachusetts. One hundred forty cognitively intact to moderately impaired long-stay nursing home residents. Subjects rated religion as either "not important," "somewhat important," or "very important." Use of religious coping strategies was measured using the 14-item Brief RCOPE. The outcome measure, psychological well-being, was measured with the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale. Covariates included demographic variables and a measure of social engagement, comorbidity, functional status, and mental status. Linear regression was used to examine the association between religious importance and psychological well-being after adjusting for covariates. Subjects rated the importance of religion as follows: very important (54%), somewhat important (27%), and not important (19%). The mean score on the Affect Balance Scale was 5.9 +/- 2.1 (SD) (range 2-9). After multivariate adjustment, viewing religion as somewhat or very important (versus not important, P=.0019) and absence of negative religious coping strategies (P=.0083) were associated with better psychological well-being (with higher scores on the Affect Balance Scale) (P=.007). Religion was important to most older residents living in 2 religiously affiliated long-term care facilities. Residents for whom religion was somewhat or very important and who did not use negative religious coping strategies are more likely to have better psychological well-being.