The measurement of SES in health research: Current practice and steps toward a new approach

J. Michael Oakes; Peter H. Rossi

doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00073-4

The measurement of SES in health research: Current practice and steps toward a new approach

J. Michael Oakes, Peter H. Rossi

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

681 Scopus citations

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.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	769-784
Number of pages	16
Journal	Social Science and Medicine
Volume	56
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00073-4
State	Published - Feb 2003

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This paper was supported by HL61573 from the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The comments and criticisms of several colleagues and friends improved this paper; deserving special note are Andre Araujo, Ichiro Kawachi, Kevin Smith, and members of the Social Epi Workgroup at the University of Minnesota. Scholarly comments from an anonymous reviewer were especially helpful. This paper was begun when the first author was with the New England Research Institutes, Watertown, MA. The usual caveats apply. We dedicate this paper to the memory of Professor Andy B. Anderson.

Keywords

Class
Psychometrics
Socioeconomic
Stratification
USA

Access

10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00073-4

OpenUrl availability

Full text

Cite this

@article{0fdf0e1d642649e9bcaed3e350a0a572,

title = "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.",

keywords = "Class, Psychometrics, Socioeconomic, Stratification, USA",

author = "Oakes, {J. Michael} and Rossi, {Peter H.}",

note = "Funding Information: This paper was supported by HL61573 from the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The comments and criticisms of several colleagues and friends improved this paper; deserving special note are Andre Araujo, Ichiro Kawachi, Kevin Smith, and members of the Social Epi Workgroup at the University of Minnesota. Scholarly comments from an anonymous reviewer were especially helpful. This paper was begun when the first author was with the New England Research Institutes, Watertown, MA. The usual caveats apply. We dedicate this paper to the memory of Professor Andy B. Anderson.",

year = "2003",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00073-4",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "56",

pages = "769--784",

journal = "Social Science and Medicine",

issn = "0277-9536",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The measurement of SES in health research

T2 - Current practice and steps toward a new approach

AU - Oakes, J. Michael

AU - Rossi, Peter H.

N1 - Funding Information: This paper was supported by HL61573 from the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The comments and criticisms of several colleagues and friends improved this paper; deserving special note are Andre Araujo, Ichiro Kawachi, Kevin Smith, and members of the Social Epi Workgroup at the University of Minnesota. Scholarly comments from an anonymous reviewer were especially helpful. This paper was begun when the first author was with the New England Research Institutes, Watertown, MA. The usual caveats apply. We dedicate this paper to the memory of Professor Andy B. Anderson.

PY - 2003/2

Y1 - 2003/2

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Class

KW - Psychometrics

KW - Socioeconomic

KW - Stratification

KW - USA

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037304529&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0037304529&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00073-4

DO - 10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00073-4

M3 - Article

C2 - 12560010

AN - SCOPUS:0037304529

SN - 0277-9536

VL - 56

SP - 769

EP - 784

JO - Social Science and Medicine

JF - Social Science and Medicine

IS - 4

ER -

The measurement of SES in health research: Current practice and steps toward a new approach

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access

OpenUrl availability

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this