Adolescents’ Subjective Social Status Predicts Day‐to‐Day Mental Health and Future Substance Use

Abstract

Adolescents’ subjective social status (SSS) is associated with mental and behavioral health outcomes, independent of socioeconomic status (SES). Many previous findings, however, come from cross‐sectional studies. We report results from a longitudinal study with 151 adolescents identified as at risk for early substance use and behavioral problems sampled from low‐SES neighborhoods. We examined whether adolescent's SSS predicted mental health (depression, anxiety, and inattention/impulsivity) measured over 30 days via ecological momentary assessment and risk for substance use at an 18‐month follow‐up. Results showed that with each perceived step “up” the SSS ladder, adolescents experienced fewer mental health symptoms in daily life and lower future substance use risk after adjusting for objective SES and previous psychopathology. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Annual Research Review: Ecological momentary assessment studies in child psychology and psychiatry

“…First, EMA helps to reduce recall bias compared to retrospective self‐reports through prospective assessment of symptoms and behaviors soon after they occur, which may be especially important when routine or mundane experiences are being studied (Bradburn, Rips, & Shevell, ; Shiffman et al, ). Second, EMA offers ecological validity by administering assessments in everyday life, as situations, interactions, and emotions are experienced, which supports inquiry that is relevant to real, everyday life as opposed to the laboratory (Russell & Odgers, ; Shiffman et al, ). Third, EMA enables measurement and modeling of intraindividual or within‐person variability, allowing comparisons of a participant to oneself across repeated measures (Bolger, Davis, & Rafaeli, ), which facilitates causal inference relative to between‐person comparisons because each individual is used as his or her own ‘control’ across time, thus holding constant all characteristics of the individual that are stable during the intensive measurement period (e.g., sex, race/ethnicity, and genotype; Allison, ; Rutter, ).…”

Subjective social status and stress responsivity in late adolescence

“…Associations between SSS and heart rate responses may emerge during adulthood rather than during adolescence, or SSS may correspond to poorer cardiovascular health through another mechanism. For instance, lower SSS has been linked with poorer health behaviors, including substance use (Finkelstein, Kubzansky, & Goodman, 2006;Reitzel, Nguyen, Strong, Wetter, & McNeill, 2013;Russell & Odgers, 2019).…”

The Practicalities and Perils of Ambulatory Assessment's Promise: Introduction to a Special Section

“…In general, AA research has been accelerating as whole. No doubt the field has made good progress in explaining within‐person variability in subjective factors including emotions, stressors, and contexts, and in showing how changes in these domains precipitate changes in indices of well‐being, relationships, and mental health (e.g., Adam, ; Beatty & Matthews, ; Becht et al., ; Crouter, Helms‐Erikson, Updegraff, & McHale, ; DeCarlo Santiago et al., ; Doane & Zeiders, ; Espinoza, Gonzales, & Fuligni, ; Fuligni et al., ; Lewis et al., ; Lippold, McHale, Davis, Almeida, & King, ; Maciejewski et al., ; Nishina & Juvonen, ; Russell & Odgers, ; Santangelo et al., ; Schneiders et al., ; Silk, Steinberg, & Morris, ; Timmons & Margolin, ; Uink, Modecki, Barber, & Correia, ; Underwood, Ehrenreich, More, Solis, & Brinkley, ). At the same time, despite our early advances in the field, adoption of AA methods among adolescence scholars has stalled.…”