Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T00:28:49.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do adults adjust their socio-economic status identity in later life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2011

JENNIFER C. CORNMAN ,
NOREEN GOLDMAN ,
AMY LOVE COLLINS ,
DANA A. GLEI ,
BAAI-SHYUN HURNG  and
MAXINE WEINSTEIN
JENNIFER C. CORNMAN*
Affiliation:
Jennifer C. Cornman Consulting, Granville, OH, USA.
NOREEN GOLDMAN
Affiliation:
Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
DANA A. GLEI
Affiliation:
Center for Population and Health, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA.
BAAI-SHYUN HURNG
Affiliation:
Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, Taichung, Taiwan.
MAXINE WEINSTEIN
Affiliation:
Center for Population and Health, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA.
*
Address for correspondence: Jennifer C. Cornman, 113 Chapin Pl, Granville, OH 43023, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous research shows that socio-economic status (SES) identity, also referred to as perceived or subjective social status, is shaped by objective measures of status, socio-cultural influences and psychological attributes and predicts current and future wellbeing. Prior studies, however, have not examined whether older adults reassess their SES identity over time. In this study, we use two assessments of subjective social status measured six years apart in a sample of older Taiwanese adults to: (a) determine the degree to which respondents adjust their perceptions of social rank; and (b) identify the characteristics of individuals who are most likely to revise their assessments. We find that many older Taiwanese adults reassess their SES identity, but most respondents show small to moderate levels of change. Females, more highly educated respondents, and those who have a positive economic outlook tend to revise their subjective social status upward relative to their respective counterparts; those who become widowed during the period adjust their rankings downward compared with those who do not become widowed. These findings suggest that SES identity may be dynamic, highlighting the importance of collecting information on SES identity at multiple points in the lifecourse.

Keywords

subjective social statusolder adultsTaiwan
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , May 2012 , pp. 616 - 633
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, N. E., Epel, E. S., Castellazzo, G. and Ickovics, J. R. 2000. Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: preliminary data in healthy white women. Health Psychology, 19, 6, 586–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adler, N. E., Singh-Manoux, A., Schwartz, J., Stewart, J., Matthews, K. and Marmot, M. G. 2008. Social status and health: a comparison of British civil servants in Whitehall-II with European- and African-Americans in CARDIA. Social Science and Medicine, 66, 5, 1034–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler, N. E. and Stewart, J. with the Psychosocial Working Group. 2007. The MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status. John, D. and Catherine, T. MacArthur Foundation, Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health. Available online at http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/Research/Psychosocial/notebook/subjective.html [Accessed 30 March 2009].Google Scholar
Boey, K. W. 1999. Cross-validation of a short form of the CES-D in Chinese elderly. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 14, 8, 608–17.3.0.CO;2-Z>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, X., Dai, K. and Parnell, A. 1992. Disaster, tradition and change: remarriage and family reconstruction in a post-earthquake community in the People's Republic of China. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, XXXIII, 1, 115–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, S. T. and Chan, A. T. 2005. The center for epidemiologic studies depression scale in older Chinese: thresholds for long and short forms. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 20, 5, 465–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, A. L. and Goldman, N. 2008. Perceived social position and health in older adults in Taiwan. Social Science and Medicine, 66, 3, 536–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crittenden, K. S. 1991. Asian self-effacement or feminine modesty? Attributional patterns of women university students in Taiwan. Gender and Society, 5, 1, 98–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, N. J. and Robinson, R. V. 1988. Class identification of men and women in the 1970s and 1980s. American Sociological Review, 53, February, 103–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demakakos, P., Nazroo, J., Breeze, E. and Marmot, M. G. 2008. Socioeconomic status and health: the role of subjective social status. Social Science and Medicine, 67, 2, 330–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Demo, D. H. 1992. The self-concept over time: research issues and directions. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 303–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diehl, M. 1999. Self-development in adulthood and aging: the role of critical life events. In Ryff, C. D. and Marshall, V. W. (eds), The Self and Society in Aging Processes. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 150–83.Google Scholar
Franks, M. M., Herzog, A. R., Holmbert, D. and Markus, H. 1999. Educational attainment and self-making in later life. In Ryff, C. D. and Marshall, V. W. (eds), The Self and Society in Aging Processes. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 223–46.Google Scholar
Franzini, L. and Frenandez-Esquer, M. E. 2006. The association of subjective social status and health in low-income Mexican-origin individuals in Texas. Social Science and Medicine, 63, 3, 788–804.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fricke, T., Chang, J. S. and Yang, S. 1994. Historical and ethnographic perspectives on the Chinese family. In Thornton, A. and Lin, H. S. (eds), Social Change and the Family in Taiwan. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 22–48.Google Scholar
Gallin, R. S. 1986. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law: intergenerational relations within the Chinese family in Taiwan. Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology, 1, 1, 31–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gallin, R. S. 1994. The intersection of class and age: mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relations in rural Taiwan. Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology, 9, 2, 127–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldman, N., Cornman, J. C. and Chang, M. C. 2006. Measuring subjective social status: a case study of older Taiwanese. Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology, 21, 1/2, 71–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldman, N., Weinstein, M., Cornman, J. C., Singer, B., Seeman, T. and Chang, M. C. 2004. Sex differentials in biological risk factors for chronic disease: estimates from population-based surveys. Journal of Women's Health, 13, 4, 393–403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Good, W. J. 1963. Word Revolution and Family Patterns. Macmillan Press, New York.Google Scholar
Goodman, E., Huang, B., Schafer-Kalkoff, T. and Adler, N. E. 2007. Perceived socioeconomic status: a new type of identity that influences adolescents’ self-rated health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41, 5, 479–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hermalin, A. I., Chan, A., Biddlecom, A. and Ofstedal, M. B. 2002. Work, retirement and leisure. In Hermalin, A. I. (ed.), The Well-being of the Elderly in Asia: A Four-country Comparative Study. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 231–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, J. S., Lantz, P. M. and Herd, P. 2005. Continuity and change in the social stratification of aging and health over the life course: evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal study from 1986–2001/2002 (Americans’ Changing Lives Study). Journals of Gerontology, 60B, Special Issue II, 15–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, P., Adler, N. E., Goldman, N., Weinstein, M. and Seeman, T. E. 2005. Relationship between subjective social status and measures of health in older Taiwanese persons. Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 53, 3, 483–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ikles, C. 1993. Chinese kinship and the state: shaping policy for the elderly. In Maddox, G. L. and Lawton, M. P. (eds), Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics. Volume 13, Springer Publishing Company, New York, 123–46.Google Scholar
Kelley, J. and Evans, M. D. R. 1995. Class and class conflict in six western nations. American Sociological Review, 60, 2, 157–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Y. T. and Seligman, M. E. P. 1997. Are Americans more optimistic than the Chinese? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 1, 32–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, R. M., Xie, Y. and Lin, H. S. 1993. Division of family property in Taiwan. Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology, 8, 1, 49–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marchenko, Y. and Royston, P. 2009. What is the Relation Between the Official Multiple-imputation Command, Mi, and the User-written Ice and Mim Commands? StataCorps, College Station, TX. Available online at http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/stat/mi_ice.html [Accessed 21 January 2010].Google Scholar
Markus, H. and Wurf, E. 1987. The dynamic self-concept: a social psychological perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 299–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ofstedal, M. B., Chan, A., Chayovan, N., Chuang, Y.-L., Perez, A., Mehta, K. and Hermalin, A. 2002. Policies and programs in place and under development. In Hermalin, A. I. (ed.), The Well-being of the Elderly in Asia: A Four-country Comparative Study. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 65–99.Google Scholar
Pearlin, L. I. and Schooler, C. 1978. The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 1, 2–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Radloff, L. S. 1977. The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measures, 1, 3, 385–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, I. H., Stark, D. and Jackson, R. 1988. Class identification processes of married, working men and women. American Sociological Review, 53, 2, 284–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh-Manoux, A., Adler, N. E. and Marmot, M. G. 2003. Subjective social status: its determinants and its association with measures of ill-health in the Whitehall II study. Social Science and Medicine, 56, 6, 1321–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singh-Manoux, A., Marmot, M. G. and Adler, N. E. 2005. Does subjective social status predict health and change in health status better than objective status? Psychosomatic Medicine, 67, 6, 855–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, J. P. 1999. Healthy bodies and thick wallets: the dual relation between health and economic status. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13, 2, 145–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, J. P. 2004. Unraveling the SES–health connection. Population Development Review, 30, supplement: Aging, Health, and Public Policy, 108–33.Google Scholar
StataCorp 2009. Stata Statistical Software: Release 11.1. StataCorp LP, College Station, Texas.Google Scholar
Sung, L. S. 1981. Property and family division. In Ahern, E. M. and Gates, H. (eds), The Anthropology of Taiwanese Society. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 361–78.Google Scholar
Tsai, S. L. and Chiu, H. Y. 1991. Constructing occupational scales for Taiwan. In Althauser, R. and Wallace, M. (eds), Research in Social Stratification and Mobility: A Research Annual. JAI Press, London, 229–53.Google Scholar
Whitbourne, S. K. 1999. Identity and adaptation to the aging process. In Ryff, C. D. and Marshall, V. W. (eds), The Self and Society in Aging Processes. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 122–49.Google Scholar
Wolf, W. P. 1981. Women, widowhood and fertility in pre-modern China. In Dupaquier, J. (ed.), Marriage and Adoption in China, 1845–1945. Academic Press, London, 139–47.Google Scholar
Woo, J., Lynn, H., Leung, J. and Wong, S. Y. S. 2008. Self-perceived social status and health in older Hong Kong Chinese women compared with men. Women & Health, 48, 2, 209–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wright, C. E. and Steptoe, A. 2005. Subjective socioeconomic position, gender and cortisol responses to waking in an elderly population. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 30, 6, 582–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar