Two Routes to Status, One Route to Health: Trait Dominance and Prestige Differentially Associate with Self-reported Stress and Health in Two US University Populations

OBJECTIVE: Social status has been extensively linked to stress and health outcomes. However, two routes by which status can be earned – dominance and prestige – may not uniformly relate to lower stress and better health because of inherent behavioral and stress-exposure differences in these two routes. METHODS: In one exploratory and two preregistered studies, participants (total N = 978) self-reported their trait dominance and prestige and self-reported several stress and health outcomes. RESULTS: The meta-effects evident across the three studies indicate that higher trait dominance was associated with worse outcomes – higher stress, poorer physical and mental health, poorer behavioral health, poorer life satisfaction, higher negative affect (range of absolute values of non-zero correlations, |r| = [0.074, 0.315], ps < 0.021) – and higher trait prestige was associated with better outcomes – lower stress, better physical and mental health, better behavioral health, better life satisfaction, higher positive and lower negative mood (|r| = [0.134, 0.478], ps < 0.001). These effects remained evident (with few exceptions) after controlling for socioeconomic status, other status-relevant traits, or self-enhancing motives; associations with behavior relevant to the COVID19 pandemic generally were not robust. CONCLUSIONS: This work indicates that evolved traits related to the preferred route by which status is earned likely impact self-reported stress and health outcomes. Future research is necessary to examine physiological and other objective indicators of stress and health in more diverse populations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40750-022-00199-3.