IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v66y2008i5p1034-1045.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social status and health: A comparison of British civil servants in Whitehall-II with European- and African-Americans in CARDIA

Author

Listed:
  • Adler, Nancy
  • Singh-Manoux, Archana
  • Schwartz, Joseph
  • Stewart, Judith
  • Matthews, Karen
  • Marmot, Michael G.

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) is related to health in every industrialized society where it has been studied. Indicators include educational attainment, occupational status, and income. Subjective social status (SSS), a summative judgment of one's socioeconomic position across these dimensions, also appears to be associated with health status. The current study examines whether SSS has similar associations with SES indicators and with health outcomes among British civil servants (participants in the Whitehall-II study), and U.S. whites and blacks (participants in the CARDIA study). The comparisons shed light on social status in the U.S. and England and on the applicability of findings from Whitehall-II to both whites and blacks in the U.S. Parallel analyses in each group examined (1) the extent to which income, education, and occupational status determine SSS ratings, (2) the association of SSS with hypertension, depression, and global health, and (3) the extent to which adjustment for education, occupation and income individually and collectively reduce the association of SSS and health outcomes. As predicted, occupation is a more important determinant of SSS in Whitehall-II than in CARDIA; adjustment for occupation reduces the association between SSS and health outcomes more for the Whitehall-II participants--especially males--than for CARDIA participants. Among the latter, education and income play relatively greater roles. Socioeconomic factors do not predict SSS scores for blacks as well as they do for the other two groups. SSS is significantly related to global health and depression in all groups and to hypertension in all groups except black males. Overall, relationships of SSS and health were stronger for Whitehall-II and white CARDIA participants than for blacks in CARDIA.

Suggested Citation

  • Adler, Nancy & Singh-Manoux, Archana & Schwartz, Joseph & Stewart, Judith & Matthews, Karen & Marmot, Michael G., 2008. "Social status and health: A comparison of British civil servants in Whitehall-II with European- and African-Americans in CARDIA," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(5), pages 1034-1045, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:5:p:1034-1045
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(07)00619-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angus Deaton, 2003. "Health, Inequality, and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 113-158, March.
    2. Singh-Manoux, Archana & Adler, Nancy E. & Marmot, Michael G., 2003. "Subjective social status: its determinants and its association with measures of ill-health in the Whitehall II study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1321-1333, March.
    3. Fuhrer, R. & Shipley, M.J. & Chastang, J.F. & Schmaus, A. & Niedhammer, I. & Stansfeld, S.A. & Goldberg, M. & Marmot, M.G., 2002. "Socioeconomic position, health, and possible explanations: A tale of two cohorts," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(8), pages 1290-1294.
    4. Bartley, M & Martikainen, P & Shipley, M & Marmot, M, 2004. "Gender differences in the relationship of partner's social class to behavioural risk factors and social support in the Whitehall II study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(9), pages 1925-1936, November.
    5. Marmot, Michael & Ryff, Carol D. & Bumpass, Larry L. & Shipley, Martin & Marks, Nadine F., 1997. "Social inequalities in health: Next questions and converging evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 901-910, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Baron-Epel, Orna & Kaplan, Giora, 2009. "Can subjective and objective socioeconomic status explain minority health disparities in Israel?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1460-1467, November.
    2. Tommy Haugan & Sally Muggleton & Arnhild Myhr, 2021. "Psychological distress in late adolescence: The role of inequalities in family affluence and municipal socioeconomic characteristics in Norway," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-25, July.
    3. Emma Zang & Anthony R. Bardo, 2019. "Objective and Subjective Socioeconomic Status, Their Discrepancy, and Health: Evidence from East Asia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 765-794, June.
    4. Song, Jieun & Mailick, Marsha R. & Greenberg, Jan S., 2018. "Health of parents of individuals with developmental disorders or mental health problems: Impacts of stigma," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 152-158.
    5. Mawuli K Kushitor & Maame B Peterson & Paapa Yaw Asante & Naa Dodua Dodoo & Sandra Boatemaa & Raphael Baffour Awuah & Francis Agyei & Lionel Sakyi & F Nii-Amoo Dodoo & Ama de-Graft Aikins, 2018. "Community and individual sense of trust and psychological distress among the urban poor in Accra, Ghana," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-13, September.
    6. Zachary Zimmer & Heidi Hanson & Ken Smith, 2016. "Childhood socioeconomic status, adult socioeconomic status, and old-age health trajectories," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(10), pages 285-320.
    7. Lee, Miaw-Chwen & Huang, Nicole, 2015. "Changes in self-perceived economic satisfaction and mortality at old ages: Evidence from a survey of middle-aged and elderly adults in Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 1-8.
    8. Landefeld, John C. & Burmaster, Katharine B. & Rehkopf, David H. & Syme, S. Leonard & Lahiff, Maureen & Adler-Milstein, Sarah & Fernald, Lia C.H., 2014. "The association between a living wage and subjective social status and self-rated health: A quasi-experimental study in the Dominican Republic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 91-97.
    9. Jens Hoebel & Ulrike E Maske & Hajo Zeeb & Thomas Lampert, 2017. "Social Inequalities and Depressive Symptoms in Adults: The Role of Objective and Subjective Socioeconomic Status," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, January.
    10. Reitzel, Lorraine R. & Mazas, Carlos A. & Cofta-Woerpel, Ludmila & Vidrine, Jennifer I. & Businelle, Michael S. & Kendzor, Darla E. & Li, Yisheng & Cao, Yumei & Wetter, David W., 2010. "Acculturative and neighborhood influences on subjective social status among Spanish-speaking Latino immigrant smokers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 677-683, March.
    11. Matthew A. Andersson, 2018. "An Odd Ladder to Climb: Socioeconomic Differences Across Levels of Subjective Social Status," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 621-643, April.
    12. Wolff, Lisa S. & Subramanian, S.V. & Acevedo-Garcia, Dolores & Weber, Deanne & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2010. "Compared to whom? Subjective social status, self-rated health, and referent group sensitivity in a diverse US sample," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2019-2028, June.
    13. Fleuriet, K. Jill & Sunil, T.S., 2015. "Reproductive habitus, psychosocial health, and birth weight variation in Mexican immigrant and Mexican American women in south Texas," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 102-109.
    14. Elizabeth A Gage-Bouchard & Katie A Devine, 2014. "Examining Parents’ Assessments of Objective and Subjective Social Status in Families of Children with Cancer," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, March.
    15. Alcántara, Carmela & Chen, Chih-Nan & Alegría, Margarita, 2014. "Do post-migration perceptions of social mobility matter for Latino immigrant health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 94-106.
    16. Subramanyam, Malavika A. & Diez-Roux, Ana V. & Hickson, DeMarc A. & Sarpong, Daniel F. & Sims, Mario & Taylor, Herman A. & Williams, David R. & Wyatt, Sharon B., 2012. "Subjective social status and psychosocial and metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(8), pages 1146-1154.
    17. Sakurai, Keiko & Kawakami, Norito & Yamaoka, Kazue & Ishikawa, Hirono & Hashimoto, Hideki, 2010. "The impact of subjective and objective social status on psychological distress among men and women in Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1832-1839, June.
    18. Hong Zou & Qianqian Xiong & Hongwei Xu, 2020. "Does Subjective Social Status Predict Self-Rated Health in Chinese Adults and Why?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 443-471, November.
    19. Mujahid, Mahasin S. & James, Sherman A. & Kaplan, George A. & Salonen, Jukka T., 2017. "Socioeconomic position, John Henryism, and incidence of acute myocardial infarction in Finnish men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 54-62.
    20. Zachary Zimmer & Heidi A. Hanson & Ken R. Smith, 2016. "Offspring Socioeconomic Status and Parent Mortality Within a Historical Population," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1583-1603, October.
    21. Kim, Jae-Hyun & Lee, Sang Gyu & Shin, Jaeyong & Park, Eun-Cheol, 2014. "Impact of the gap between socioeconomic stratum and subjective social class on depressive symptoms: Unique insights from a longitudinal analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 49-56.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Balia, Silvia & Jones, Andrew M., 2008. "Mortality, lifestyle and socio-economic status," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-26, January.
    2. Babones, Salvatore J., 2008. "Income inequality and population health: Correlation and causality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 1614-1626, April.
    3. Reyes-García, Victoria & McDade, Thomas W. & Molina, Jose Luis & Leonard, William R. & Tanner, Susan N. & Huanca, Tomas & Godoy, Ricardo, 2008. "Social rank and adult male nutritional status: Evidence of the social gradient in health from a foraging-farming society," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2107-2115, December.
    4. Wilkinson, Richard G & Pickett, Kate E., 2006. "Income inequality and population health: A review and explanation of the evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(7), pages 1768-1784, April.
    5. Chakraborty, Shankha & Papageorgiou, Chris & Pérez Sebastián, Fidel, 2010. "Diseases, infection dynamics, and development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(7), pages 859-872, October.
    6. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim, 2017. "Education Effects on Days Hospitalized and Days out of Work by Gender: Evidence from Turkey," IZA Discussion Papers 11210, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. G Oskrochi & Ahmed Bani-Mustafa & Y Oskrochi, 2018. "Factors affecting psychological well-being: Evidence from two nationally representative surveys," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-14, June.
    8. Marijke Verpoorten, 2014. "Growth, poverty and inequality in Rwanda: a broad perspective," Working Papers of LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance 490896, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance.
    9. Tomoki Fujii, 2013. "Geographic decomposition of inequality in health and wealth: evidence from Cambodia," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(3), pages 373-392, September.
    10. Silvia Helena Barcellos & Leandro S. Carvalho & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2014. "Child Gender and Parental Investments in India: Are Boys and Girls Treated Differently?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 157-189, January.
    11. Tajul Masron & Mduduzi Biyase & Talent Zwane & Thomas Udimal & Frederich Kirsten, 2023. "Ecological footprint and population health outcomes: an analysis of E7 countries," Economics Working Papers edwrg-07-2023, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, revised 2023.
    12. Jana Asher & Beth Osborne Daponte, 2010. "A Hypothetical Cohort Model of Human Development," Human Development Research Papers (2009 to present) HDRP-2010-40, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    13. Maria-Dolores, Ramon & Martínez Carrion, José Miguel, 2012. "The comovement between height and some economic development indicators in Spain," UMUFAE Economics Working Papers 26464, DIGITUM. Universidad de Murcia.
    14. Albino Prada-Blanco & Patricio Sanchez-Fernandez, 2017. "Empirical Analysis of the Transformation of Economic Growth into Social Development at an International Level," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 983-1003, February.
    15. Alan B. Krueger, 2002. "Inequality, Too Much of a Good Thing," Working Papers 845, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    16. Leive, Adam, 2018. "Dying to win? Olympic Gold medals and longevity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 193-204.
    17. Fraser Summerfield & Livio Di Matteo, 2021. "Influenza Pandemics and Macroeconomic Fluctuations in Recent Economic History," Working Papers 210002, Canadian Centre for Health Economics.
    18. R Todd Jewell & Maximo Rossi & Patricia Triunfo, 2006. "El Estado de Salud de los Jóvenes Uruguayos," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 43(128), pages 235-250.
    19. Nepomuceno, Marcelo Vinhal & Laroche, Michel, 2015. "The impact of materialism and anti-consumption lifestyles on personal debt and account balances," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 654-664.
    20. Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2012. "The Public Economics of Increasing Longevity," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 200(1), pages 41-74, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:5:p:1034-1045. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.