The measurement of SES in health research: current practice and steps toward a new approach
Abstract
The resurgence of social epidemiology has yet to induce corresponding research into basic measurement issues. This paper aims to motivate investigators to refocus attention on the measurement of socioeconomic status (SES). With a primarily American focus, we document striking paucity of basic research in SES, review the history of SES measurement, highlight the central limitations of current measurement approaches, sketch a new theoretical perspective, present new pilot results, and outline areas for future research. We argue (1) that lack of conceptual clarity and the bypassing of standard psychometric techniques have retarded SES measurement. And (2) social epidemiologists should revisit the measurement of SES and consider whether a richer, psychometrically induced, approach would be more useful. Our pilot study suggests a great deal of uniformity between existing SES measures and that a new approach may be worthy of pursuit.
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Family SES was operationalized using parental education and occupational status, two widely used indicators of socioeconomic position in educational research.
“Family SES was operationalized using parental education and occupational status, two widely used indicators of socioeconomic position in educational research (Antonoplis, 2023;Avvisati, 2020;Oakes & Rossi, 2003).”
From Participation in extracurricular activities predicts academic growth and mediates socioeconomic inequalities in primary school (2026) · cites this paper as Oakes & Rossi, 2003
Parental education and occupational status form part of the standard 'big three' SES dimensions, together with household income, and capture complementary aspects of family resources.
“These indicators form part of the standard 'big three' SES dimensions, together with household income, and capture complementary aspects of family resources (Antonoplis, 2023;Oakes & Rossi, 2003).”
From Participation in extracurricular activities predicts academic growth and mediates socioeconomic inequalities in primary school (2026) · cites this paper as Oakes & Rossi, 2003
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- Authors
- Oakes, J. M., & Rossi, P. H.
- Venue
- Social Science & Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2003-02
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 769-784
- ISSN
- 0277-9536
- Cited by
- 740
- References
- 3
- Language
- en
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