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Measuring Subjective Social Status: A Case Study of Older Taiwanese

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Abstract

Despite widespread use of measures of social status and increasing interest in the relationship between social status and health, the variables used to denote social status are often inappropriate for use with older populations. This article examines responses to a recently developed measure of subjective social position, known as the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status. The instrument asks respondents to use ten rungs of a ladder to position themselves socioeconomically relative to other people in their country and, separately, in their community. These questions were incorporated into a recent national survey of middle-aged and older adults in Taiwan. The objectives of the analysis were to gain a better understanding of how such subjective assessments are formed (i.e., to explore the contribution of social, economic, and cultural factors in the determination of position within a social hierarchy) and to assess the potential utility of the ladder instrument in social science and health research. This article compares results from Taiwan with those derived from subjective measures of social status in Western populations. The findings support use of the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status as a measure of subjective social status among the older population and suggest that using it may provide further insights into the social gradient in health.

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Notes

  1. This estimate is based on an average conversion rate of NT$ 31 to 1 USD for the period 1999–2000.

  2. The Spearman rank correlation between the two ladders was 0.61 for mothers of the adolescents, compared with 0.35 for the adolescents themselves (Goodman et al., 2001). Both groups of respondents were given the same ladder question pertaining to US society, but the second question pertained to the school community for adolescents and to the community (as defined by the respondent) for adults.

  3. For example, in a simple regression model that included only age (as a continuous variable) and gender, a 20-year difference in age was associated with a difference of only 0.17-rung for Taiwan and 0.30-rung for the community. Because the 2000 Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study was limited to persons aged 54 and older, the analysis included only individuals born in 1946 or earlier. With the availability of future waves of this survey, we will be able to determine whether the inclusion of more recent cohorts results in larger age effects.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge support for this project from the Demography and Epidemiology Unit of the Behavioral and Social Research Program of the National Institute of Aging (Grants R01AG16790 and R01AG16661) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant 5P30HD32030). Most of the research was carried out while Jennifer Cornman was at the Office of Population Research, Princeton University. We would like to thank Maxine Weinstein, Dana Glei, and Marta Tienda for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Office of Population Research, Princeton University, 243 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ, 08544-2091, USA

    Noreen Goldman

  2. School of Public Health, Department of Health Systems and Policy, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, 335 George St., Suite 2200, New Brunswick, NJ, 08903, USA

    Jennifer C. Cornman

  3. Center for Population and Health Survey Research, Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, Taichung, Taiwan

    Ming-Cheng Chang

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  1. Noreen Goldman
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Correspondence to Noreen Goldman.

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Goldman, N., Cornman, J.C. & Chang, MC. Measuring Subjective Social Status: A Case Study of Older Taiwanese. J Cross Cult Gerontol 21, 71–89 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-006-9020-4

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