Exploring the relationship between multiple dimensions of subjective socioeconomic status and self-reported physical and mental health: the mediating role of affect

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to investigate the predictive effects of two types of subjective socioeconomic status on self-reported physical and mental health. Specifically, we examined the MacArthur Scale (MacArthur) which measures perceived socioeconomic rank in the society and a novel scale called ComSim, which assessed how participants compared themselves socioeconomically to others coming from a similar socioeconomic background. We also considered the influence of income, education, and personal relative deprivation (PRD) in these analyses. Additionally, we explored whether these effects were mediated through negative and positive affect. METHODS: The data were collected through a cross-sectional, two-wave survey of 294 women and 294 men, with a mean age 41.6 years. Participants were recruited via an online platform. RESULTS: The results from multivariate regression models revealed that socioeconomic status measured with both the MacArthur Scale and ComSim significantly predicted both self-reported health measures, whereas income and education did not predict any of these measures in the full multivariate models. PRD only predicted self-reported mental health. Mediation analyses showed that negative and positive affect mediated the relationships between socioeconomic status measured by ComSim and self-reported health measures. DISCUSSION: These findings are discussed in the context of the similarity hypothesis of social comparison theory. The results underscore the importance of considering multiple dimensions when examining socioeconomic health disparities.