Svedberg P, Nygren J M, Staland-Nyman C, Nyholm M
School of Health and Welfare, Hamstad University, SE-301 18, Halmstad, Sweden.
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2016 Apr 29;16:48. doi: 10.1186/s12874-016-0148-9.
Research has shown inconsistencies in results and difficulties in conceptualization of assessment of socioeconomic status (SES) among adolescents. The aim of this study was thus to test the validity of self-reported information on SES in two age-groups (11-13 and 14-16 years old) in an adolescent population and to evaluate its relationship to self-reported health related quality of life (HRQOL). Different measures of SES commonly used in research in relation to HRQOL were tested in this study; parent's occupations status, family material affluence status (FAS) and perceived SES.
A cross-sectional study, with a sample of 948 respondents (n = 467, 11-13 years old and n = 481, 14-16 years old) completed questionnaires about SES and HRQOL. The adolescents' completion rates were used, with chi2-test, to investigate differences between gender and age-group. Correlation was used for convergent validity and ANOVA for concurrent validity.
We found a low completion rate for both fathers' (41.7 %) and mothers' (37.5 %) occupation status, and a difference in completion rate between gender and age-groups. FAS had the highest completion rate (100 %) compared to parent's occupations status and perceived SES. The convergent validity between the SES-indicators was weak (Spearman correlation coefficient below 0.3), suggesting that the indicators measured different dimensions of SES. Both FAS and perceived SES showed a gradient in mean HRQOL between low and high SES in relation to HRQOL, this was significant only for perceived SES (p < 0.01, both age-groups).
This study indicates the need for considering different approaches to measures of SES among adolescences and when evaluating SES in relation to HRQOL. Further research is needed to investigate sustainable ways to measure SES, delineating the relevance of tangible measures of education, occupation and income in relation to the perceived socioeconomic status in comparison with others in immediate social networks and in society at large.
研究表明，青少年社会经济地位（SES）评估结果存在不一致性，且在概念界定上存在困难。因此，本研究旨在检验青少年群体中两个年龄组（11 - 13岁和14 - 16岁）自我报告的SES信息的有效性，并评估其与自我报告的健康相关生活质量（HRQOL）的关系。本研究测试了在与HRQOL相关的研究中常用的不同SES测量方法；父母职业状况、家庭物质富裕状况（FAS）和感知SES。
一项横断面研究，样本为948名受访者（n = 467，11 - 13岁；n = 481，14 - 16岁），他们完成了关于SES和HRQOL的问卷。采用青少年的完成率，通过卡方检验来调查性别和年龄组之间的差异。相关性用于收敛效度分析，方差分析用于同时效度分析。
我们发现父亲（41.7%）和母亲（37.5%）职业状况的完成率较低，且性别和年龄组之间的完成率存在差异。与父母职业状况和感知SES相比，FAS的完成率最高（100%）。SES指标之间的收敛效度较弱（斯皮尔曼相关系数低于0.3），表明这些指标测量的是SES的不同维度。FAS和感知SES在低SES和高SES的HRQOL平均水平上均呈现梯度差异，这仅在感知SES方面具有显著性（p < 0.01，两个年龄组均如此）。
本研究表明，在青少年中以及评估与HRQOL相关的SES时，需要考虑不同的SES测量方法。需要进一步研究以调查测量SES的可持续方法，阐明教育、职业和收入的具体测量方法与在直接社交网络和整个社会中与他人相比的感知社会经济地位的相关性。
