A THEORETICALLY GROUNDED SCALE TO MEASURE SES IN SURVEYS

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective is to develop a psychometrically sound yet practical scale for measuring socioeconomic status (SES) in health and epidemiologic surveys. Building on previous efforts and our paper (Oakes and Rossi 2000), the scale will be the first to operationalize SES through the unified theory of "capital" accumulation: SES is a function of material capital, human capital and social capital. One advantage of this innovative approach is that it frames SES in terms familiar to policy-makers seeking to improve the public's health. The importance of developing a practical SES scale cannot be overstated. While the relationship between SES and health has long been established, even the NIH acknowledges that existing measures are inadequate for applied surveys. An accurate and useable instrument will provide for more efficacious clinical and policy interventions to improve the public?s health, especially in aging populations. Domain and item pool specification will be influenced by previous research and an Advisory Panel of distinguished scholars. A mail survey will determine the scale's usefulness and psychometric properties. Estimation of the latent SES construct will be done through a MIMIC model. Phase II plans include ethnographic and focus group refinement, rigorous evaluation across survey modes, norming, and product distribution