Richards Lindsay, Maharani Asri, Präg Patrick
University of Oxford, Department of Sociology, 42-43 Park End Street, Oxford, OX1 1JD, United Kingdom.
Manchester Metropolitan University, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Education, Bonsall St, Manchester, M15 6GX, United Kingdom.
Soc Sci Med. 2023 Mar;320:115749. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115749. Epub 2023 Jan 30.
Subjective social status has a known association with health, whereby better health outcomes are observed for those with higher perceived status. In this research, we offer new evidence on the status-health relationship using a rigorous methodological approach that considers both observed and unobserved confounders.
We use 5 waves of data spanning 15 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and derive a measure of allostatic load with biomarkers as an objective measure of health. We apply 'within-between' panel regression models.
Models reveal the expected association between subjective status and health when comparing participants (the 'between' estimate), but no association when examining temporal variation within participants (the 'within' estimate). When controlling for personality traits including optimism, and parental education, the 'between' association between subjective status and allostatic load is reduced but does not disappear.
Person-level confounders play some role in explaining the observed link between subjective status and health. The exact nature of the link, including the role of psychological pathways and early-life confounders, remains a question for future research.
主观社会地位与健康之间存在已知关联，即社会地位认知较高者的健康状况更佳。在本研究中，我们采用严谨的方法，综合考虑观察到的和未观察到的混杂因素，为社会地位与健康的关系提供了新证据。
我们使用了来自英国老龄化纵向研究的跨越15年的5波数据，并通过生物标志物得出了一种应激负荷测量方法，作为健康的客观指标。我们应用了“组内-组间”面板回归模型。
在比较参与者时（“组间”估计），模型揭示了主观地位与健康之间的预期关联，但在考察参与者内部的时间变化时（“组内”估计）则没有关联。在控制包括乐观主义和父母教育程度在内的人格特质后，主观地位与应激负荷之间的“组间”关联有所减弱，但并未消失。
个体层面的混杂因素在解释观察到的主观地位与健康之间的联系中起到了一定作用。这种联系的确切性质，包括心理途径和早期生活混杂因素的作用，仍是未来研究的一个问题。
