Abstract
Purpose of study: Researchers have found consistent and strong evidence that objective SES is positively related to cognitive functioning of older adults. However, only little is known about the effect of subjective social status (SSS) on cognitive functioning in later life. This study investigated whether SSS can be associated with trajectories of cognitive functioning among older adults in the U.S. Furthermore, we compared the explanatory power of objective SES measures and SSS to understand which factors better explain cognitive functioning. Design and Methods: We used the sample from the 2006–2012 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The sample included 11,199 older adults aged 50 and older. SSS was measured by the MacArthur Scale of SSS. To measure objective SES, we performed a principal component analysis using educational attainment, income and wealth quintiles, and occupational categories in order to obtain predict scores. Results: After controlling for covariates and objective SES, results from Growth-curve models showed that SSS was associated positively and significantly with the total cognition score (z=4.52, p<.001, 95% CI= 0.0916, 0.2316). The explanatory power of objective SES was greater than that of SSS. Conclusion: Older adults with higher perception of their social status showed better cognitive functioning trajectories. This study provides evidence that psychological perceptions of social status could have significant clinical implications to explain cognitive functioning in later life in addition to the effect of objective SES.