Economic Inequality Increases Status Anxiety Through Perceived Contextual Competitiveness.

ABSTRACT: Status anxiety, the constant concern about individuals' position on the social ladder, negatively affects social cohesion, health, and wellbeing (e.g., chronic stress). Given previous findings showing that status anxiety is associated with economic inequality, we aimed in this research to test this association experimentally. A cross-sectional study (Study 1) was run in order to discard confounding effects of the relationship between perceived economic inequality (PEI) and status anxiety, and to explore the mediating role of a competitive climate (N = 297). Then we predicted that people assigned to a condition of high inequality would perceive more status anxiety in their social context, and they would themselves report higher status anxiety. Thus, in an experimental study (Study 2)

SUBMITTER: Melita D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8182636 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature