Body Mass Index and Subjective Social Status: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study

OBJECTIVE: Subjective Social Status (SSS), or perceived social status, may explain, in part, the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity. We tested whether SSS mediates the relationship between two indicators of SES (income and education) and body mass index (BMI). METHODS: We applied a cross-sectional, structural equation path analysis to the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study (n=2,624). We tested whether SSS (MacArthur scale), education and income were associated with BMI at the year 20 exam (adjusting for sex, age and race), hypothesizing that the associations of education and income with BMI would be at least partly mediated by SSS. RESULTS: SSS had a significant direct effect on BMI (−0.21, p=0.018). Education had a significant direct relationship with SSS (0.11, p<0.001) and a small but significant indirect relationship with BMI through SSS (−0.02, p=0.022). Income, although it did not have a significant direct relationship with BMI, did have a significant indirect relationship through SSS (b=−0.05, p=0.019). CONCLUSIONS: Results are consistent with our hypothesized model where SSS partially mediates the relationship between socioeconomic status indicators and BMI.