Low self-rating of social status predicts heart disease risk

"We know objective measures of SES like income, education, and occupation and how that influences cardiovascular disease risk can be 'measured' by an outsider, but we wondered about the influence when a person evaluates their own social standing, even as they struggle to meet basic needs," says lead study author Allyssa Allen, M.Ed., a doctoral candidate in human services psychology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County.

The researchers used data from participants enrolled in the 2010 Baltimore-based, Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study. They calculated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk using the Framingham 10-year risk equation and analyzed SES using the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status.

Allen and colleagues found that, as expected, lower social standing and lower self-rating were associated with higher CVD risk, but were surprised that this was true for Whites only. "We actually expected the opposite due to the influence of racial discrimination on perceived social standing and cardiovascular disease risk," she said. The findings persisted even after adjusting for poverty, body mass index, depression and the use of high blood pressure medication.