Subjective Social Status

Title

The MacArthur Scales of Subjective Social Status (USA Ladder; Community Ladder)

Studies

PCS2, PMBC, PCS3

Copyright Information

Not a copyrighted scale

Primary References

Adler, N. E., Epel, E. S., Castellazzo, G., 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, 586-592.

Adler, N. E., Stewart, J., et al. (2007). The MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status.  In Psychosocial Research Notebook.  Retrieved January 11, 2013, from http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/research/psychosocial/subjective.php

Cohen, S., Alper, C. M., Doyle, W. J., Adler, N., Treanor, J. J., & Turner, R. B. (2008). Objective and subjective socioeconomic status and susceptibility to the common cold.  Health Psychology, 27, 268-274.

Operario, D., Adler, N. E., & Williams, D. R. (2004). Subjective social status: Reliability and predictive utility for global health. Psychology and Health, 19, 237-246.

Purpose

To capture individuals' sense of their place on the social ladder, which takes into account standing on multiple dimensions of socioeconomic status and social position.  In PCS3, the MacArthur Scale also was used to assess participants’ subjective ratings of their social position during childhood.

Description

USA Ladder

Respondents are presented with an illustration of a 9-rung ladder and instructed to interpret it as representing where people stand in the United States in terms of income, education, and occupational standing. Using this ladder, respondents are asked to rank, by placing an “X” on the appropriate rung, where they think they stand at this time in their lives relative to other persons in the United States.

Community Ladder

Respondents are presented with an illustration of a 9-rung ladder, and instructed to interpret it as representing a person’s status within his or her community.  Community is defined as being comprised of friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers; high standing within a community is defined as being well thought of by other community members. Using this ladder, respondents are asked to rank, by placing an “X” on the appropriate rung, where they think they stand at this time in their lives relative to other people in their community.

PCS3 only

Participants were presented with two USA Ladders and two Community Ladders on which they ranked their father’s and mother’s respective social positions as they would have been during the participant’s childhood and adolescence (see Childhood Subjective Social Status).

Scaling

1=lowest status, 9=highest status

Number of Items

2 (1 per SES ladder)

Psychometrics

In a sample of 191 randomly selected adult residents of the continental United States, the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status (USA Ladder) was found to demonstrate acceptable 6-month test-retest reliability (Spearman’s rank order correlation = .62, p<.01; Operario et al., 2004).

Variables

• SES USA Ladder Score
• SES Community Ladder Score