Establishing adaptive social capital in the face of risk : subjective social status, emotion processing, and CVD risk in young adults

Objectives: Independent of objective socioeconomic conditions (SES), subjective social status (SSS) has predicted morbidity. However, it has also been suggested that changes in subjective social status can have detrimental effects. The social capital needed for adaptive upward social mobility and reduced health implications remain unclear. This study examined SSS with emotion regulation, implicit theory of emotion, and parental care in a sample of adolescents transitioning to adulthood. Indicators of obesity and systemic inflammation were indexed as early cardiovascular risk. 
Method: The sample consisted of 113 healthy young adults aged 18 to 19. SSS was assessed with the two versions of MacArthur Scale (nation and community). Re-appraisal vs. suppression regulation approaches was measured with Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Fixed vs. malleable theories of emotion was assessed by Implicit Theories of Emotion Scale. Parental care during the first 16 years of life was indexed with Parental Bonding Inventory. Obesity dimensions include waist circumference and body mass index. Systemic inflammation was indexed by C-reactive protein (CRP) levels measured from peripheral blood. Age, gender, and ethnicity were included as covariates. 
Results: Above and beyond objective SES (years of education), higher community SSS was associated with lower waist circumference (b=- .58, t=-1.946, p=.05). Nation SSS interacted with reappraisal tendencies to predict CRP levels (b=.47, t=3.38, p < .05), while community SSS interacted with parental care to predict CRP levels (b=1.27, t=2.47, p < .05). Patterns indicate that CRP levels are the lowest for those individuals higher in SSS but who also use reappraisal approaches to regulate emotion and report greater care from parents during childhood. On other hand, marginal interactions emerged between nation SSS and the entity subscale of Implicit Theory of Emotion (b=-.14, t=-1.97, p < .10), such that those individuals higher in nation SSS but reported a more fixed theory of emotion had higher levels of CRP. 
Conclusions: These findings point to domains of emotion processing that help explain how subjective social status can buffer against health implications associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, as well as implicit theories that may hinder adaptive social mobility.