Social mobility, accumulation of disadvantages and health. An analysis with retrospective data from the GSOEP (2002–14)

Knöchelmann, Anja; Günther, Sebastian; Seifert, Nico; Richter, Michael

doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckz128

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…a promotion into a higher-paid occupation), individuals have to cope with these new circumstances directly and promptly rather than over a longer period, which could increase levels of stress. Self-rated health Scotland Upward is beneficial Zang and de Graaf (2016) Happiness China None Hadjar and Samuel (2015) Life satisfaction United Kingdom Upward is detrimental Hadjar and Samuel (2015) Life satisfaction Switzerland None Clark and D'Angelo (2015) Life satisfaction United Kingdom Upward is beneficial Nikolaev and Burns (2014) Happiness USA Downward is detrimental Nikolaev and Burns (2014) Self-rated health USA Upward is beneficial, downward is detrimental Houle and Martin (2011) Depression USA Upward is beneficial (for subgroup) Tiffin et al (2005) Mental health England Downward is detrimental (for subgroup) Marshall and Firth (1999) Life satisfaction Ten countries None Intragenerational mobility Knöchelmann et al (2020) Self-reported physical health Germany Upward is beneficial, downward is detrimental (for subgroup) Much qualitative research has corroborated the idea of important mobility effects on individual wellbeing outcomes. Ingram (2011) interviewed working-class boys doing well at school and documented signs of their inner conflict, as boys attempt to diminish their affiliation to a working-class identity.…”

Section: Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Intragenerational Social Mobility and Well-being in Great Britain: A Biomarker Approach

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social theory has long predicted that social mobility, in particular downward social mobility, is detrimental to the well-being of individuals. Dissociative and “falling from grace” theories suggest that mobility is stressful due to the weakening of social ties, feelings of alienation, and loss of status. In light of these theories, it is a puzzle that the majority of quantitative studies in this area have shown null results. Our approach to resolve the puzzle is two-fold. First, we argue for a broader conception of the mobility process than is often used and thus focus on intragenerational occupational class mobility rather than restricting ourselves to the more commonly studied intergenerational mobility. Second, we argue that self-reported measures may be biased by habituation (or “entrenched deprivation”). Using nurse-collected health and biomarker data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2010–2012, N = 4,123), we derive a measure of allostatic load as an objective gauge of physiological “wear and tear” and compare patterns of mobility effects with self-reports of health using diagonal reference models. Our findings indicate a strong class gradient in both allostatic load and self-rated health, and that both first and current job matter for current well-being outcomes. However, in terms of the effects of mobility itself, we find that intragenerational social mobility is consequential for allostatic load, but not for self-rated health. Downward mobility is detrimental and upward mobility beneficial for well-being as assessed by allostatic load. Thus, these findings do not support the idea of generalized stress from dissociation, but they do support the “falling from grace” hypothesis of negative downward mobility effects. Our findings have a further implication, namely that the differences in mobility effects between the objective and subjective outcome infer the presence of entrenched deprivation. Null results in studies of self-rated outcomes may therefore be a methodological artifact, rather than an outright rejection of decades-old social theory.

show abstract

Section: Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Intragenerational Social Mobility and Well-being in Great Britain: A Biomarker Approach

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarly, Hadjar and Samuel (2015) also find that upward mobility decreases life satisfaction, but only in the United Kingdom, not in Switzerland, and in neither country they find that downward mobility reduces life satisfaction. For the 'falling from grace' hypothesis, there is some evidence that downward mobility reduces wellbeing, including from different data sources from various countries (Kaiser and Trinh, 2021;Knöchelmann et al, 2020;Nikolaev and Burns, 2014;Tiffin et al, 2005). Most of these studies also find that upward mobility has salubrious effects on wellbeing.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subjective social mobility and health in Germany

Präg

Gugushvili

2021

European Societies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One's current socioeconomic position is intimately tied to one's health status. Further, childhood living conditions also exert lasting effects on the health of adults. However, studies on changes in one's socioeconomic position over the life course rarely find important effects of social mobility for individual health and wellbeing. Such studies always draw on objective measures of social mobility and do not consider subjective appraisals of social mobility by individuals themselves. Using cross-sectional, representative German survey data, we explore the question as to how subjective perceptions as opposed to objective accounts of occupational status mobility affect five self-reported health and wellbeing outcomes differentially. We show that objective *

show abstract

“…From semester fees to public transportation, some costs are involved, and these costs can affect older people differently depending on their financial situation. This intersection of inequality partially explains the differences in the health of older people (Corna, 2013;Knöchelmann et al, 2019). In addition to economic restrictions, bad health prevents people from participating in these types of programs.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework For Motivations and Learning In The Lamentioning

confidence: 99%

Older Adults’ Engagement in Senior University Lectures and the Effect of Individual Motivations

Ackermann

Seifert

2021

Front. Educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Among older adults, engagement in education can potentially have positive effects on cognition and psychological well-being and can prevent social isolation. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of individual motivations specific to older learners that underlie the frequency of participation at a senior university and how health or socioeconomic dimensions may affect the possibilities for participation. With data on participants from the senior university program at the University of Zurich (N = 811), we show that greater individual motivations regarding different aspects of learning have an effect on the frequency of lecture attendance, while other life circumstances do not. However, the findings show that when different forms of motivation are compared, instrumental motivation—meaning that the intention to use the gained knowledge now or in the future is responsible for the participant’s learning aspirations—is the only motivation that significantly increases lecture attendance. Hence, we conclude that to increase people’s engagement in this specific form of education in later life and to intensify lecture attendance, these programs should meet participants expectations.

show abstract

Social mobility, accumulation of disadvantages and health. An analysis with retrospective data from the GSOEP (2002–14)

Cited by 6 publications

References 33 publications

Intragenerational Social Mobility and Well-being in Great Britain: A Biomarker Approach

Intragenerational Social Mobility and Well-being in Great Britain: A Biomarker Approach

Subjective social mobility and health in Germany

Older Adults’ Engagement in Senior University Lectures and the Effect of Individual Motivations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About