Socioeconomic Status, Subjective Social Status, and Perceived Stress: Associations with Stress Physiology and Executive Functioning

Abstract

Several studies have investigated associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and indicators of children's physiological and cognitive self-regulation. Although objective measures of family SES may be good proxies for families' experiences of disadvantage, less is known about subjective aspects of families' experiences. We hypothesize that subjective social status (SSS) and perceived stress may be important independent predictors of children's stress physiology and executive functioning (EF). Eighty-two children from diverse SES backgrounds were administered EF measures and provided saliva samples for cortisol assay. Caregivers reported on objective SES, SSS, and perceived stress. Results suggest that SES and SSS are both independently and positively related to EF. In models predicting stress physiology, higher perceived stress was associated with lower baseline cortisol. Moreover, SES and age interacted to predict cortisol levels such that among younger children, lower SES was associated with higher cortisol, whereas among older children, lower SES was associated with lower cortisol. Results highlight the importance of considering both objective and subjective indicators of families' SES and stressful experiences in relation to multiple aspects of children's self-regulation.

Keywords:

• socioeconomic status
• subjective social status
• perceived stress
• cortisol
• executive function

Funding

The first author's role in this research was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, through Grant R305B080019 to New York University. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute of the US Department of Education. The first author's role in this research was also supported by funding from the Neuroepidemiology Training Program at Columbia University (NIH/NINDS T32-NS07153).