Socioeconomic status and individual adjustment in early adoloscence

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to play an important role in socialization. In the present study three indicators of socioeconomic status were examined in terms of their relations with each other and three areas of social adjustment. The three measures of SES were: father occupation, Family Affluence Scale, and a single question regarding the individual’s subjective evaluation of the family’s SES. The social adjustment measures included school adjustment, parental support, psychosocial well-being, and two related behaviors health habits (physical activity, and dietary habits). The sample was composed of 3,168 Italian middle school students (47.3% girls). Bivariate correlations among the three measures of SES were weak, and only one of those measures (the subjective evaluation) was consistently correlated with adjustment. Using Structural Equation Models, however, showed that the different measures of SES could be used to create a latent construct of SES, which demonstrated a reliable relation with four of the five social adjustment constructs (school adjustment, parental support, and two health habits). Our results suggest that, in the study of social inequalities during adolescence, we need to consider indicators that could have a strong effect during the rest of the life. Moreover, comparing different type of analysis, the study offered a rationale for use SES in terms of a latent construct.