Socioeconomic Status Shape Research Articles

Striatal and Behavioral Responses to Reward Vary by Socioeconomic Status in Adolescents.

Disparities in socioeconomic status (SES) lead to unequal access to financial and social support. These disparities are believed to influence reward sensitivity, which in turn are hypothesized to shape how individuals respond to and pursue rewarding experiences. However, surprisingly little is known about how SES shapes reward sensitivity in adolescence. Here, we investigated how SES influenced adolescent responses to reward, both in behavior and the striatum-a brain region that is highly sensitive to reward. We examined responses to both immediate reward (tracked by phasic dopamine) and average reward rate fluctuations (tracked by tonic dopamine) as these distinct signals independently shape learning and motivation. Adolescents (n = 114; 12-14 years; 58 female) performed a gambling task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We manipulated trial-by-trial reward and loss outcomes, leading to fluctuations between periods of reward scarcity and abundance. We found that a higher reward rate hastened behavioral responses, and increased guess switching, consistent with the idea that reward abundance increases response vigor and exploration. Moreover, immediate reward reinforced previously rewarding decisions (win-stay, lose-switch) and slowed responses (postreward pausing), particularly when rewards were scarce. Notably, lower-SES adolescents slowed down less after rare rewards than higher-SES adolescents. In the brain, striatal activations covaried with the average reward rate across time and showed greater activations during rewarding blocks. However, these striatal effects were diminished in lower-SES adolescents. These findings show that the striatum tracks reward rate fluctuations, which shape decisions and motivation. Moreover, lower SES appears to attenuate reward-driven behavioral and brain responses.

Demographic variables and perceptions of corruption among undergraduates: Evidence from a nigerian federal university

Previous studies suggest that beliefs, attitudes, experiences, cultural norms, personal values, and socioeconomic status shape perceptions of corruption. However, there is a lack of research exploring how undergraduates' demographic variables influence their views on corruption, creating a significant knowledge gap. To address this gap, this study examines how undergraduates' perceptions of corruption vary according to demographic variables, such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, and academic level. Following a positivist research philosophy, this quantitative study used a cross-sectional ex-post facto research design. A sample of 315 undergraduates, selected through a proportionate stratified random sampling technique, participated in a physical survey. Data were collected using the Demographic Variables and the Perception of Corruption Questionnaire (DVPCQ). Due to the absence of established instruments demonstrating strong psychometric properties in the specific context of this research, the DVPCQ was developed. Its face and content validity were confirmed by domain and psychometric experts, and its construct validity was assessed through exploratory factor analysis. The instrument was reliable, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.87. The study's hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 alpha level using independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). All statistical tests were performed using JASP software. The results revealed significant differences in perceptions of corruption based on age, gender, income level, academic level, and marital status of students. Specifically, younger, female, lower-income, lower academic and married students perceived corruption more favourably than older, male, higher-income, higher academic and single students. This finding implies that anticorruption campaigns should be customised to appeal to older, male, higher-income, higher academic and single students more inclined to perceive corruption unfavourably. Campaigns should focus on educating students about the negative consequences of corruption and promoting integrity and transparency. These recommendations would interest policymakers, educators, and researchers aiming to combat campus corruption.

Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions: Jennifer A. Richeson.

The APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions honors psychologists who have made distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to basic research in psychology. "For illuminating with theoretical boldness and methodological rigor how sociocultural group memberships such as race and socioeconomic status shape how people reason about, respond to, and experience inequality and injustice. Jennifer A. Richeson has shown how threat impacts misperceptions of inequality and reactions to increasing racial diversity. Her steadfast commitment to being inclusive in the world and research is illustrated in her research on the dynamics of interracial interactions from the perspectives of members of both culturally devalued and traditionally dominant groups. Together, these contributions have transformed our understanding of how prejudice and stereotypes shape basic processes of mind and behavior." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Effect of Family Wealth on Physical Function Among Older Adults in Mpumalanga, South Africa: A Causal Network Analysis.

Objectives: The aging of the South African population could have profound implications for the independence and overall quality of life of older adults as life expectancy increases. While there is evidence that lifetime socio-economic status shapes risks for later function and disability, it is unclear whether, and how, the wealth of family members shapes these outcomes. We investigated the relationship between outcomes activities of daily living (ADL), grip strength, and gait speed, and the household wealth of non-coresident family members. Methods: Using data from Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) and the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (AHDSS), we examined the relationship between physical function and household and family wealth in the 13 preceding years. HAALSI is a cohort of 5,059 adults who were 40years or older at baseline in 2014. Using auto-g-computation-a recently proposed statistical approach to quantify causal effects in the context of a network of interconnected units-we estimated the effect of own and family wealth on the outcomes of interest. Results: We found no evidence of effects of family wealth on physical function and disability. Conclusion: Further research is needed to assess the effect of family wealth in early life on physical function and disability outcomes.

Religiosity and wellbeing in areas of socio-economic deprivation: The role of social capital and spiritual capital in enabling resources for subjective wellbeing

ABSTRACT Although religiosity and socio-economic status shape wellbeing, there are few analyses on wellbeing and religiosity in socio-economically deprived areas, despite decreases in wellbeing and increased deprivation in Europe since the 2008 financial crisis. This paper explores how resources for subjective wellbeing are enabled in deprived areas via religious participation, through a thematic analysis of ethnographic and participant observations and semi-structured interviews in two villages in County Durham, UK. The function of social and spiritual capital in transmitting resources for wellbeing is identified, and the theory of spiritual capital developed, in light of the analysis. Consequently, the need for qualitative investigations of wellbeing in deprived communities is highlighted.

Sociodemographic Factors and Intestinal Microbiome Development in Preterm, Very Low Birth Weight Infants.

Preterm very low birth weight (VLBW) infants are at risk for intestinal morbidities and dysbiotic development of the intestinal microbiome. Despite the influence of sociodemographic factors on premature infant health outcomes, whether they shape the intestinal microbiome early in life is not clear. The objective was to explore the associations between race, sex, and socioeconomic status and the intestinal microbiome of VLBW infants during the first 4 weeks of life. This was a secondary analysis of data from an ongoing randomized trial of 79 infants ≤30 weeks' gestation and ≤1,500 g. Stool samples were collected at week 1 through week 4, frozen to -80°C and analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing of the V4 region using Illumina MiSeq. Reads were analyzed to measure α and β diversity as well as relative abundance of bacteria in the intestinal microbiome. Of the 79 infants, 63 had at least one sample available. Twenty-three (37%) of infants were African American, 30 (48%) were male, and 44 (71%) had Medicaid insurance. There were no statistically significant (<0.05) differences in α diversity or β diversity, and the differential abundance analysis suggests limited patterns of distinction in the intestinal microbiome between non-African American and African American infants, male and female infants, and infants with maternal private or Medicaid insurance. Our results suggest race, sex, and socioeconomic status shape colonization of specific microorganisms to a limited extent. Future studies should confirm these findings and determine clinical relevance through further study of differentially abundant microorganisms and additional factors contributing to colonization patterns. · Diversity of the gut microbiome was similar between infants of varying race, sex, and socioeconomic status.. · We observed sociodemographic-linked differences in colonization of individual taxa.. · Further study is required to confirm these results and the clinical relevance of these findings..

Stratified Entry into Illegality: How Immigration Policy Shapes Being Undocumented

Abstract Research shows that legal status is a critical axis of stratification in the United States but is less clear about the variably permeable boundaries around illegality and the systematic ways in which migrants are channeled into and out of the liminal states of illegality. Drawing on analysis of 105 interviews with a diverse group of undocumented or formerly undocumented immigrant young adults in New York City collected in 2018–19, we introduce the concept of stratified entry into illegality to illustrate how migrants’ nationality, race, and socioeconomic status shape their mode of entry which, in turn, shapes opportunities to adjust legal status. Our comparison of migrants who entered the United States without inspection and those who overstayed visas reveals key differences in experience of illegality, including fear of deportation and future plans. We discuss the role of mandatory re-entry bans and hardship waivers on immigrants’ relationships, the “fix” of advance parole for the more privileged Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, and the gendered and racialized risks and pressures faced by visa overstayers seeking to adjust their status through marriage. Our comparison of undocumented young adults with and without DACA across mode of entry demonstrates how DACA serves as a class- and race-based filtering mechanism. We embed analysis of stratified entry into illegality within the US immigration regime and a global regime of racialized criminalization of migrants rooted in colonial and neocolonial relations of power and extraction.

Connecting the dots: How parental and current socioeconomic status shape individuals’ transformational leadership

Leadership development has been characterized as an ongoing process that continues throughout a lifetime. From a long-lens perspective, this study aims to investigate how leaders’ early family socioeconomic environment influences their later transformational leadership. According to the social cognitive theory of social class, we propose that parental socioeconomic status (SES) promotes transformational leader behaviors via a positive psychological state. In the current study with 171 leaders and 684 matched subordinates, results indicated that high parental SES boosted leaders’ transformational behaviors by increasing their psychological capital, but this relationship was assuaged for leaders with high current SES. These findings contribute to the literature on transformational leadership, emphasize the importance of early life factors in leader emergence and development, and have implications for leadership development and future research.

Socioeconomic status and leisure preferences: a test of the omnivore hypothesis with Canadian data

ABSTRACT We examined the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and leisure preferences with Canadian secondary data collected in the 1970s. In leisure studies, there is little to no research drawing on the omnivore hypothesis to examine the relationship between SES and leisure. With the omnivore hypothesis, higher SES is expected to be associated with greater breadth of leisure activities in addition to greater investment in activities associated with higher SES. The cultural omnivore pattern has also largely been associated with a cultural shift during the 1980s with little research on the phenomena before that time period. As expected, higher SES was positively associated with breadth of leisure activities, but negatively associated with time in activities associated with lower SES. Results demonstrated the potential for the cultural omnivore hypothesis to inform our understanding of the ways SES shapes leisure consumption in a Canadian context and questions the time-limited nature of these phenomena.

Everyday limits to adaptation

Abstract Adaptation to climate change, in terms of both academic and policy debates, has been treated predominantly as a local issue. This scalar focus points towards local agency as well as the contested responsibilization of local actors and potential disconnects with higher-level dynamics. While there are growing calls for individuals to take charge of their own lives against mounting climatic forces, little is known about the day-to-day actions people take, the many hurdles, barriers, and limits they encounter in their adaptation choices, and the trade-offs they consider envisaging the future. To address this gap, this article draws on 80+ interviews with urban and rural residents in Western Australia to offer a nuanced analysis of everyday climate adaptation and its limits. Our findings demonstrate that participants are facing significant adaptation barriers and that, for many, these barriers already constitute limits to what they can do to protect what they value most. They also make visible how gender, age, and socioeconomic status shape individual preferences, choices, and impediments, revealing compounding layers of disadvantage and differential vulnerability. We argue that slow and reflexive research is needed to understand what adaptation limits matter and to whom and identify opportunities to harness and support local action. Only then will we be able to surmount preconceived neoliberal ideals of the self-sufficient, resilient subject, engage meaningfully with ontological pluralism, and contribute to the re-politicization of adaptation decision-making.

Family socioeconomic status and Chinese high school students' test anxiety: Serial mediating role of parental psychological control, learning resources, and student academic self-efficacy.

It is widely documented that students with lower family socioeconomic status (SES) tend to have higher test anxiety than their peers from higher SES families. However, few studies have empirically examined the underlying mechanism whereby family SES shapes students' test anxiety. To bridge this gap, the present study proposed and tested a serial mediation model in which family SES is associated with students' test anxiety through the indirect effect of parental psychological control, access to learning resources, and academic self-efficacy. The sample comprised 354 Chinese high school students (134 boys; mean age=16.15years old). The results were as follows: (1) higher family SES was associated with increased access to learning resources, higher academic self-efficacy, lower parental psychological control, and lower test anxiety. In contrast, test anxiety was associated with decreased access to learning resources, lower academic self-efficacy, and higher parental psychological control; and (2) the mediation model indicated parental psychological control, learning resources, and academic self-efficacy functioned as serial mediators in the relationship between family SES and students' test anxiety (i.e., family SES → psychological control and learning resources → academic self-efficacy → test anxiety). The findings are discussed in the framework of the family stress/investment models and social cognitive theory. Concrete suggestions for how low SES parents can help decrease their children's test anxiety are provided.

Potential Traumatic Events through the Life Cycle in an Immigrant Population.

Existing studies on traumatic events focused on children, while it has been understudied in older adults. This study aims to examine prevalence, frequency, and severity of life events in older Chinese Americans. The data were drawn from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly (PINE) in 2017–2019. Twenty life events were evaluated, including natural disasters, personal traumatic events, and historical events. Among 3125 participants, the mean age was 75.33 (standard deviation (SD) = 8.22) with 61.06% female. Cultural Revolution (73.27%) has the highest prevalence. A total of 1819 (58.39%) participants reported typhoon and experienced multiple times. Falsely accused of crime was reported as the most severe event. Women were more likely to report family-related life events. Those with higher education were more likely to report personal traumatic events. This study is among the first to profile life events in older Chinese Americans. Age cohorts, gender roles, and socioeconomic status shape individuals’ exposure to life events. This study could help identify which vulnerable groups have high risks of exposure to traumatic events.

Socioeconomic Disparities Affect Children’s Amygdala-Prefrontal Circuitry via Stress Hormone Response

BackgroundThe socioeconomic status (SES) of a family can affect almost all aspects of a child’s life, including health and current and future achievement. The potential adverse effects of low SES on children’s emotional development are thought to result from proximal factors such as stress. The underlying neurobiological mechanisms, however, remain elusive. MethodsThe effect of SES on children’s integrative cortisol secretion and its modulations on emotion-related brain systems and connectivity were examined in children aged 6 to 12 years. In study 1, we investigated the relationship between SES and cortisol secretion in 239 children. In study 2, using resting-state and task-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging in a subsample of 50 children, we investigated how SES affects children’s amygdala-prefrontal functional organization through cortisol secretion. ResultsChildren from lower SES exhibited lower cortisol secretion, considering basal cortisol, nocturnal cortisol activity during sleep, and cortisol awakening response, which mediated higher amygdala nuclei intrinsic functional connectivity with the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). Critically, these children also exhibited higher task-evoked ventromedial PFC activity through higher intrinsic connectivity of the centromedial amygdala with the medial PFC. They also exhibited higher functional coupling of the centromedial amygdala with the dorsolateral PFC when processing negative emotions. ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that SES shapes children’s amygdala-prefrontal circuitry through stress-sensitive cortisol secretion, with the most prominent effect in the centromedial amygdala’s functional coordination with the ventromedial and dorsolateral PFC involved in processing negative emotions. Our findings provide important insight into the neurobiological etiology underlying how socioeconomic disparities shape children’s emotional development.

Race and SES Differences in Psychosocial Resources: Implications for Social Stress Theory

Social stress theory predicts that psychosocial resources shape health inequalities but is less clear about the ways in which the availability of resources differs across racial and socioeconomic groups. Using data from the Nashville Stress and Health Study (N = 1,214), the present study assessed racial and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in mastery, self-esteem, and social support; evaluated the extent to which SES accounts for racial differences in resources; and considered the interactive roles of race and SES in shaping resources among Black and White adults. Results show Blacks have greater access to resources, but SES yields greater psychosocial benefits among Whites. Findings demonstrate that SES and race may jointly and independently shape access to resources. This study contributes to the broader literature on status distinctions in psychosocial resources, providing new insights into the ways in which race and SES shape access to these health-protective resources while also raising several questions for future research.

Working-class wisdom: how relationality and responsibility shape working-class youth’s meaning-making on social media

ABSTRACT Young people spend prodigious time online cultivating identities, relationships, and values, however, most research about young people's experiences online fails to consider how socioeconomic status shapes young people's engagement online. Drawing on communication theory about meaning-making, impression management, and trends toward prosumption, we examine how social class, informs young peoples' engagement online. Interviews and focus groups with culturally and geographically diverse teens from working-class families reveal that working-class youth articulate their engagement online in terms of (1) rule following, (2) impression management to become intelligible to peers, (3) cultivating relationships, and (4) occasionally by intentionally keeping meaningful things offline. We argue that their energies reflect efforts at (1) controlling the meaning of posts and (2) relational work, evidencing a ‘responsibility-orientation’ to online engagement. Implications extend previous research identifying the importance of personal responsibility for working-class users online and consider how education systems and online platforms might better serve working-class youth.

Time and class: How socioeconomic status shapes conceptions of the future self

ABSTRACT People generally care about their future. However, how vividly they imagine it, and how much they like and value it, may vary across socioeconomic status (SES). If lower-SES individuals believe their future to resemble their present, including the greater uncertainties and stressors of a lower-SES environment, then they may focus less on their future self, coming to view it less vividly, as less likable, and less valuable, amongst other qualities. We found support for these hypotheses across pilot data, two observational studies (one pre-registered), and a pre-registered experimental manipulation of SES. These results add to the growing literature on SES’s psychological consequences by suggesting that SES affects people’s conceptions of not only their present self, but also their future self.

Social Stratification and Choice-Based Policy Programs: The Case of Early Withdrawal of Retirement Savings during the Great Recession

AbstractAccess to emergency funds during times of need is increasingly dependent on a “choice-based” retirement system in the United States. This study examines the operation of this choice-based retirement system across a socioeconomically stratified population impacted by the Great Recession. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics collected between 2005 and 2011, we first assess how socioeconomic status shapes access to different types of retirement plans. We then examine the varied pathways that lead to the early withdrawal of retirement savings. The results depict a multistage selection process through which socioeconomic resources structure the process of withdrawal. This occurs first through the availability of retirement funds and the makeup of the retirement portfolio and then through the likelihood of hardship. The results also reveal the importance of education in getting access to retirement savings during a hardship. The general implications for choice-based programs are discussed.

Does socioeconomic status shape young people's goal revision processes in the face of negative career feedback?

Based on social cognitive career theory and general self-regulation theories, we examined the relationships between negative career feedback (on goal suitability and goal progress) and goal revision intentions (for goal disengagement and lowering career goals), and tested the mediating role of occupational self-efficacy and the moderating role of socioeconomic status (both objective and subjective SES). Using a sample of 244 college students (73% female; Mage = 19.28 years), we found that both negative feedback types related to greater intentions to disengage from, and lower goals, via lower occupational self-efficacy. Higher objective SES strengthened the relationships between negative feedback on goal suitability and goal revision intentions, while higher subjective SES weakened these relationships indirectly via occupational self-efficacy. In addition, both higher objective and subjective SES weakened the relationships between negative feedback on goal progress and intentions to lower goals. Contrary to expectation, SES did not moderate the relationship between negative feedback on goal progress and goal disengagement intentions, nor did it moderate the indirect relationships between this type of feedback and both forms of goal revision intention via occupational self-efficacy. These findings highlight the importance of SES and occupational self-efficacy in young people's self-regulation processes when confronted with negative career feedback about either goal suitability or progress.

Which activities count? Using experimental data to understand conceptualizations of physical activity

US health surveys consistently report that men and those with higher socioeconomic status (SES) engage in more physical activity than women and lower SES counterparts, using questions that ask about physical activity during leisure time. However, social characteristics such as gender and SES shape understandings of and access to leisure-based physical activity as well as other domains where healthy activity is available – namely house work, care work, and paid work. Thus, the physical activity of US adults may look different when what counts as physical activity expands beyond leisure activity.The current study uses Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform to conduct a 2-by-2-by-2 factorial experiment that crosses three types of physical activities: leisure, house or care work, and paid work. We find that physical activity questions that prime respondents – that is, ask respondents – to consider house/care work or paid work lead to increased minutes reported of physical activity compared to not priming for physical activity, while asking about leisure is no different from having no physical activity primed. The effect on reported physical activity of priming with house/care work is stronger for women than men, demonstrating support for gendered specialization of time spent in the house and care work domain. The effects on reported physical activity of priming with house/care work and paid work are stronger for those with less education compared to more education, consistent with socioeconomic divisions in access to physical activity in house/care work and employment. This study highlights the contingence of our understanding of the physical activity of US adults on both its measurement in surveys and the social forces which shape understanding of and access to physical activity.

Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Contact with Police in Chicago: Disparities across Sexuality, Race, and Socioeconomic Status

In this article, we examine intersections of race, sexuality, and socioeconomic status (SES) in people’s experiences with police contact in Chicago. Utilizing representative data concerning police contact as well as sexual and racial identification, we examine variations in police contact for respondents occupying different racial, sexual, and economic social locations. In so doing, we examine the case of an urban area often lauded for progress in sexual minority rights to quantitatively evaluate disparities in the experiences of sexual minorities occupying different racial and sexual positions in society. In conclusion, we draw out implications for (1) developing intersectional analyses of contemporary sexual minority experience; (2) understanding the ways race, sexuality, and SES shape experiences with police contact even in settings deemed more progressive than the broader society; and (3) the ways in which incorporating an analysis of bisexuality into mainstream social science complicates existing assumptions and theories.