FIGURE 13.3 Subjective Socioeconomic Status and Health The objective socioeconomic status of a group of volunteers was assessed in terms of income level and education. The volunteers’ subjective social status was assessed by showing them a picture of a ladder and asking them to indicate where they thought they stood relative to their fellow Americans in terms of income, education, and occupation. All the volunteers were then exposed to a cold virus. Even after controlling for factors such as smoking and other risk factors, Sheldon Cohen and his colleagues (2008) found that subjective, rather than objective, social status was associated with susceptibility to infection. Regardless of their objective socioeconomic status, participants who perceived themselves as being lower in social status were more susceptible to infection than those who did not.

Source: Data from Cohen & others (2008).