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Economic Inequality Increases Status Anxiety Through Perceived Contextual Competitiveness
Status anxiety, the constant concern about individuals’ position on the social ladder, negatively affects social cohesion, health, and wellbeing (e.g., chronic stress). Given previous findings showing that status anxiety is associated with economic inequality, we aimed in this research to test this...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8182636/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34108908 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.637365 |
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author | Melita, Davide Willis, Guillermo B. Rodríguez-Bailón, Rosa |
author_facet | Melita, Davide Willis, Guillermo B. Rodríguez-Bailón, Rosa |
author_sort | Melita, Davide |
collection | PubMed |
description | Status anxiety, the constant concern about individuals’ position on the social ladder, negatively affects social cohesion, health, and wellbeing (e.g., chronic stress). Given previous findings showing that status anxiety is associated with economic inequality, we aimed in this research to test this association experimentally. A cross-sectional study (Study 1) was run in order to discard confounding effects of the relationship between perceived economic inequality (PEI) and status anxiety, and to explore the mediating role of a competitive climate (N = 297). Then we predicted that people assigned to a condition of high inequality would perceive more status anxiety in their social context, and they would themselves report higher status anxiety. Thus, in an experimental study (Study 2) PEI was manipulated (N = 200). In Study 1, PEI uniquely predicted status anxiety, and perceived competitiveness mediated the relationship. In Study 2 PEI increased perceived contextual status anxiety, a specific form of perceived competitiveness based on socioeconomic status (SES). Moreover, preliminary evidence of an indirect effect was found from PEI to personal status anxiety, through (higher) perceived contextual status anxiety. These preliminary findings provide experimental evidence for the effects of economic inequality on status anxiety and the mechanism involved. Economic inequality makes people feel that they live in a society where they are constantly concerned and competing with each other for their SES. These results could have important implications as health and wellbeing could be promoted by reducing economic inequalities and the competitive and materialistic environments of our societies. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8182636 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-81826362021-06-08 Economic Inequality Increases Status Anxiety Through Perceived Contextual Competitiveness Melita, Davide Willis, Guillermo B. Rodríguez-Bailón, Rosa Front Psychol Psychology Status anxiety, the constant concern about individuals’ position on the social ladder, negatively affects social cohesion, health, and wellbeing (e.g., chronic stress). Given previous findings showing that status anxiety is associated with economic inequality, we aimed in this research to test this association experimentally. A cross-sectional study (Study 1) was run in order to discard confounding effects of the relationship between perceived economic inequality (PEI) and status anxiety, and to explore the mediating role of a competitive climate (N = 297). Then we predicted that people assigned to a condition of high inequality would perceive more status anxiety in their social context, and they would themselves report higher status anxiety. Thus, in an experimental study (Study 2) PEI was manipulated (N = 200). In Study 1, PEI uniquely predicted status anxiety, and perceived competitiveness mediated the relationship. In Study 2 PEI increased perceived contextual status anxiety, a specific form of perceived competitiveness based on socioeconomic status (SES). Moreover, preliminary evidence of an indirect effect was found from PEI to personal status anxiety, through (higher) perceived contextual status anxiety. These preliminary findings provide experimental evidence for the effects of economic inequality on status anxiety and the mechanism involved. Economic inequality makes people feel that they live in a society where they are constantly concerned and competing with each other for their SES. These results could have important implications as health and wellbeing could be promoted by reducing economic inequalities and the competitive and materialistic environments of our societies. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-05-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8182636/ /pubmed/34108908 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.637365 Text en Copyright © 2021 Melita, Willis and Rodríguez-Bailón. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Melita, Davide Willis, Guillermo B. Rodríguez-Bailón, Rosa Economic Inequality Increases Status Anxiety Through Perceived Contextual Competitiveness |
title | Economic Inequality Increases Status Anxiety Through Perceived Contextual Competitiveness |
title_full | Economic Inequality Increases Status Anxiety Through Perceived Contextual Competitiveness |
title_fullStr | Economic Inequality Increases Status Anxiety Through Perceived Contextual Competitiveness |
title_full_unstemmed | Economic Inequality Increases Status Anxiety Through Perceived Contextual Competitiveness |
title_short | Economic Inequality Increases Status Anxiety Through Perceived Contextual Competitiveness |
title_sort | economic inequality increases status anxiety through perceived contextual competitiveness |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8182636/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34108908 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.637365 |
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