Subjective socioeconomic status and self-rated health in adults with and without intellectual disability

McMahon, Martin and Hatton, Chris (2019) Subjective socioeconomic status and self-rated health in adults with and without intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 63 (7). pp. 796-797. ISSN 0964-2633

Abstract

Introduction:Subjective socioeconomic status (SSS), an individual’sunderstanding of their socioeconomic position, is acknowledged in thegeneral population as a robust predictor of health over and aboveobjective socioeconomic indicators. This has not been investigated inadults with intellectual disability (ID).Methods:We administered afive-point self-rated health scale and theMacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status to a total population sampleof adults with ID (n=217), and to a random stratified sample of adultswithout ID (n =2,350). The MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Statusis in a ladder format with ten rungs. It is an overall measure of SSS and isassociated with an individual’s place in a societal hierarchy.Results:Eighty-two adults with ID responded independently. In bothgroups, a subjective assessment of one’s ranking on the social hierarchywas correlated with more positive self-rated health - ID populationSpearmanr=0.35,p<0.001; general population Spearmanr=0.34,p<0.001. Further analyses will also be presented.Implications:This data indicates that higher levels of SSS areassociated with more positive self-rated health. Research in appropriately defined samples should use this measure to broaden the evidence baseand further determine if SSS is a robust correlate of health in the ID population.