The Influence of Subjective Social Status on Self-Rated Health: Evidence from China

Abstract

Subjective Social Status (SSS) inevitably affects the self-rated health of individuals and /or societal groups. Based on the evidence from China, this paper aims to 1) assess the influence of Objective Social Status and Subjective Social Status on differences in self-rated health in China; 2) to examine the correlations between Subjective Social Status and perceived health. The data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) 2010 are selected to achieve the two aims with SSS measured by Subjective Family Economic Status (SFES, using the Likert scale) and Subjective Social Class (SSC, using the MacArthur scale), and Health Status measured by a continuous ill score calculated by the standard logarithmic normal distribution index conversion of self-rated health. Advanced statistical modeling using the nested multiple robust regression model and interaction analysis is used to deal with heteroscedasticity from the CGSS data. It is found that: 1) lower SSS is associated with poor health status and SSS is a more comprehensive predictor of health status; 2) aging has more apparent influences on the health of lower SSS groups; 3) lower SSS groups have received higher health returns from their educational attainment than higher SSS groups though they tend to be in poorer health status; 4) once have a chronic disease the health of lower SFES groups will suffer more deterioration than higher ones.