Income Is a Stronger Predictor of Subjective Social Class in More Economically Unequal Places

Kim, Youngju; Sommet, Nicolas

doi:10.1177/01461672231210772

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…For instance, just as objective economic inequality may shape individuals' perception of their position within society (e.g. see Andersen & Curtis, 2012;Kim & Sommet, 2023;Zhao, 2012), it is also possible that subjective economic inequality may influence perceived economic scarcity. Further research could investigate how environmental factors, particularly income inequality and its perception, affect the predictive utility of the PESS or the PESS itself.…”

Section: Limitations and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Perceived Economic Scarcity Scale: A valid tool with greater predictive utility than income

Auger,

Sommet,

Normand

2024

British J Social Psychol

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This article introduces the Perceived Economic Scarcity Scale (PESS), a novel instrument measuring the subjective evaluation and experience of economic scarcity (the feeling of having insufficient financial resources to meet one's needs). We conducted three high‐powered preregistered studies (total N = 1900) to rigorously evaluate the PESS's psychometric properties. In Study 1, we generated a pool of items and used both Principal Component Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis to select the most appropriate items. In Study 2, we examined the PESS's construct validity, demonstrating that it measures a distinct construct from related constructs such as subjective social class. In Study 3, we examined the PESS's predictive validity, demonstrating that it is a robust predictor of both affective outcomes (e.g. anxiety‐depressive symptoms) and cognitive outcomes (e.g. economic risk‐taking). Critically, we found that the PESS not only has incremental validity over and above income but also has greater predictive utility than income. We also found that the PESS score varies depending on the distance‐to‐pay and has excellent test–retest reliability. Overall, the PESS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing perceived economic scarcity, and we encourage researchers to use it to better understand the psychological consequences of ‘not having enough’.

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Section: Limitations and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Perceived Economic Scarcity Scale: A valid tool with greater predictive utility than income

Auger,

Sommet,

Normand

2024

British J Social Psychol

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“…In more equal contexts, the impact of economic differences on subjective social class is less pronounced and noneconomic markers of social class, such as education, becomes more important (for relevant empirical research, see Kim & Sommet, 2023). Our results suggest that income equality does increase the effects of the cultural dimension of social class on test performance, herein represented by parental education and cultural possessions (i.e., the performance disparity between students from families with more vs. less cultural capital becomes wider).…”

Section: The Negative Interaction Between Income Inequality and Cultu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The social class test gap: A worldwide investigation of the role of academic anxiety and income inequality in standardized test score disparities.

Claes,

Smeding,

Carré

et al. 2024

Journal of Educational Psychology

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We conducted three preregistered studies using the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data to provide a worldwide estimation of the standardized test gap between students from lower and higher social classes. We investigated: (a) the degree to which academic anxiety contributes to this gap and (b) the role of country-level income inequality in widening this gap. In Study 1, we used PISA 2003 data (250,000+ students from 41 countries) and demonstrated that anxiety accounts for approximately one-fifth of the performance gap between students with less educated parents and those with more educated parents. Unexpectedly, the social class test gap was weaker in more unequal countries than in more equal countries. In Studies 2a and 2b, we used the PISA 2012 and 2015 data (totaling over a million students from 65 countries and 72 countries, respectively) and differentiated the cultural dimension (parental education, cultural capital) and the economic dimension (economic capital) of social class. Regardless of the dimension, anxiety again accounted for between one-tenth and one-fifth of the performance gap between students from lower and higher social classes. Moreover, (a) the culturally based social class achievement gap was weaker in more unequal than in more equal countries, and (b) the economically based social class achievement gap was larger in more unequal than in more equal countries. Unexpectedly, we also find a robust association between national income inequality and academic anxiety across all three studies. Results are discussed in relation to the multidimensionality of social class and literature on the psychology of income inequality. Educational Impact and Implications StatementStandardized tests purport to measure of skills, achievement, or ability, in a manner uninfluenced by family background, although social class remains a robust predictor of test performance. Analyses of three Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Programme for International Student Assessment data sets (750,000+ students from a total of 70+ countries observed in 2015, 2012, and 2003) showed that academic anxiety contributes to one-tenth and one-fifth of the social class test gap. In addition, national income inequality impacted the social class test gap, in the opposite direction for cultural and economic capitals, as well as increased students' academic anxiety. This research supports the intricate interplay between microlevel socioeconomic factors, macrolevel economic features, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach in interventions aimed at addressing the social class test gap, including both individual processes and broader societal considerations.

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“…Finally, we performed a set of post hoc analyses to assess whether sociodemographic variables reported to influence infantcaregiver interaction [35][36][37] varied between groups and, if so, the extent to which these sociodemographic differences might account for any observed differences in caregiver greeting between neurotypical and autism dyads. As theorized by ecological models of development [38,39] and documented in the public health literature [40][41][42], a family's sociodemographic context influences nearly all facets of their daily experience. Thus, investigating potential associations between sociodemographic factors and caregiver greeting may provide insight into the bidirectional influences of broader structural and societal factors on infant transactions with their familial and social environment [9,43].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caregiver greeting to infants under 6 months already reflects emerging differences in those later diagnosed with autism

Ford,

Walum,

Brice

et al. 2024

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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As infants develop, caregivers adjust their behaviour to scaffold their infant’s emerging skills, such that changes in infants’ social abilities are expected to elicit changes in caregiver behaviour. We examined whether changes in the probability of infant-directed caregiving behaviour—specifically, greeting, a ubiquitous signal used by caregivers to initiate reciprocal interactions—differ between infant–caregiver dyads with an infant later diagnosed with autism and dyads with a neurotypically developing infant during infants’ first 6 months. Using longitudinal data from 163 dyads, we found that caregivers in autism dyads ( n = 40) used greeting less and at later infant ages than caregivers with a neurotypically developing infant (neurotypical dyads, n = 83). Caregivers in dyads with infants at elevated familial genetic likelihood for autism who did not receive an autism diagnosis (EL-non-autism dyads, n = 40) showed no differences in greeting compared with neurotypical dyads. Socioeconomic status partially mediated the difference between autism and neurotypical dyads. These findings show that autism and socioeconomic status were associated with the mutually adapted dynamics of dyadic interaction beginning in the first postnatal weeks. Importantly, differences in caregiver greeting observed in autism dyads are not interpreted as suboptimal behaviour from caregivers but rather indicate how early emerging social differences related to autism, years before overt features are present, may alter social learning opportunities elicited by the infant.

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Income Is a Stronger Predictor of Subjective Social Class in More Economically Unequal Places

Cited by 5 publications

References 90 publications

The Perceived Economic Scarcity Scale: A valid tool with greater predictive utility than income

The Perceived Economic Scarcity Scale: A valid tool with greater predictive utility than income

The social class test gap: A worldwide investigation of the role of academic anxiety and income inequality in standardized test score disparities.

Caregiver greeting to infants under 6 months already reflects emerging differences in those later diagnosed with autism

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