title: Subjective social status, a new measure in health disparities research: do race/ethnicity and choice of referent group matter?
abstract: Studies have shown subjective social status (SSS) is associated with multiple health outcomes. This article examines the predictors of SSS, whether these associations vary by race/ethnicity, and whether SSS is sensitive to different referents used for social comparison. Data were from a national US mail survey. Income was strongly associated with SSS only among Whites and Hispanics. While there were no SSS differences by race/ethnicity using a distal referent, Blacks had higher SSS than Whites when using more proximal referents, even after controlling for objective status indicators. Findings indicate SSS measurement may be sensitive to race/ethnicity and the comparison referent.
authors.affiliation: Research and Evaluation, Health Resources in Action, 95 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116, USA. LWolff@hria.org
authors.forename: Lisa S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Acevedo-Garcia
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.forename: Deanne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors