Suffering from success: Associations between upward socioeconomic mobility, psychological stress, and physical health

Abstract

Decades of research finds a relationship between low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood and poor health outcomes in adulthood. However, recent evidence suggests individuals who experience upward socioeconomic mobility exhibit poorer health than those who remain in low SES environments from childhood to adulthood. The current work examined the relationships between environmental mismatch, physical health, and psychological stressors associated with upward socioeconomic mobility (i.e., financial insecurity, obligation to family, social isolation, and threat hypervigilance). First, the effects of experimentally manipulated upward mobility on the association between childhood SES and psychological stress were examined in a sample of undergraduate students (Study 1) and in a sample of young adults who were currently or never enrolled in college (Study 2). Next, the associations between environmental mismatch, childhood SES, psychological stress, and physiological health responses were examined in a sample of undergraduate students (Study 3). Results reveal that environmental mismatch associated with upward mobility is associated with an increased expectation of financial obligation to family, which in turn, predicts greater inflammatory response. These results suggest that certain psychological stressors associated with upward socioeconomic mobility may have tangible physiological consequences for individuals with low childhood SES who pursue higher SES in adulthood.