We experimentally tested whether negative stereotypes linked to lower socioeconomic status (SES), in addition to impairing academic performance (Croizet & Claire, 1998), instigate inflammation processes that are implicated in numerous disease processes. In Study 1, verbal test performance and activation of inflammation processes (measured by levels of an inflammatory protein, Interleukin-6 [IL-6]) varied as a function of SES and test framing (i.e., diagnostic vs. nondiagnostic of intellectual ability), with low SES students underperforming and exhibiting greater IL-6 production in the “diagnostic” condition. In Study 2, students expected their verbal exam performance to be compared to peers of higher or lower SES. Low SES students in the upward comparison condition displayed the greatest inflammatory response and worst test performance. Across both studies, different facets of SES predicted vulnerability to negative outcomes, such that low early life SES predicted heightened inflammation responses, while low current SES predicted impaired academic performance.
AdlerN. E.SnibbeA. C. (2003). The role of psychosocial processes in explaining the gradient between socioeconomic status and health. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 119–123. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.01245
2.
CarrollJ. E.CohenS.MarslandA. L. (2011). Early childhood socioeconomic status is associated with circulating interleukin-6 among mid-life adults. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 25, 1468–1474.
3.
CesariM.PenninxB. W.NewmanA. B. (2003). Inflammatory markers and cardiovascular disease (The Health, Aging and Body Composition [Health ABC] Study). American Journal of Cardiology, 92, 522–528. doi:10.1016/S0002-9149(03)00718-5
4.
CohenS.DoyleW. J.TurnerR. B.AlperC. M.SkonerD. P. (2004). Childhood socioeconomic status and host resistance to infectious illness in adulthood. Psychosomatic Medicine, 66, 553–558. doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000126200.05189.d3
5.
CohenS.Janicki-DevertsD.ChenE.MatthewsK. A. (2010). Childhood socioeconomic status and adult health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1186, 37–55. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05334
6.
CroizetJ. C.ClaireT. (1998). Extending the concept of stereotype threat to social class: The intellectual underperformance of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 588–594. doi:10.1177/0146167298246003
7.
DickersonS. S.GableS. L.IrwinM. R.AzizN.KemenyM. E. (2009). Social-evaluative threat and proinflammatory cytokine regulation: An experimental laboratory investigation. Psychological Science, 20, 1237–1244. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02437.x
8.
Fernandez-BotranR.MillerJ. J.BurnsV. E.NewtonT. L. (2011). Correlations among inflammatory markers in plasma, saliva, and oral mucosal transudate in post-menopausal women with past intimate partner violence. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 25, 314–321. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2010.09.023
9.
FiskeS. T. (2012). Envy up, scorn down: How status divides us. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
John-HendersonN.JacobsE. G.Mendoza-DentonR.FrancisD. D. (2013). Wealth, health and the moderating role of implicit social class bias. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 45, 173–179. doi:10.1007/s12160-012-9443-9
12.
JohnsM.SchmaderT.MartensA. (2005). Knowing is half the battle: Teaching stereotype threat as a means of improving women’s math performance. Psychological Science, 16, 175–179. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00799.x
13.
JohnsonS. E.RichesonJ. A.FinkelE. J. (2011). Middle class and marginal? The influence of socioeconomic status on the self-regulatory resources of students at an elite university. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 838–852. doi:10.1037/a0021956
14.
KhaodhiarL.LingP. R.BlackburnG. L.BistrianB. R. (2004). Serum levels of interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein correlate with body mass index across the broad range of obesity. Journal of Parental and Enteral Nutrition, 28, 410–415. doi:10.1177/0148607104028000410
15.
Kielcot-GlaserJ. K.PreacherK. J.MacCallumR. C.AtkinsonC.MalarkeyW.GlaserR. (2003). Chronic stress and age-related increases in the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100, 9090–9095. doi:10.1073/pnas.1531903100
16.
LiuY.HoR. C.MakA. (2011). Interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and soluble interleukin-2 receptors (sIL-2R) are elevated in patients with major depressive disorder: A meta-analysis and meta-regression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 139, 230–239. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.08.003
17.
McEwenB. (1998). Stress, adaptation, and disease: Allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 84, 33–44. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb09546.x
18.
MendesW. B.BlascovichJ.MajorB.SeeryM. D. (2001). Challenge and threat responses during downward and upward social comparisons. European Journal of Social Psychology: Special Issue on Social Comparisons, 31, 477–497. doi:10.1002/ejsp.80
19.
MendesW. B.JamiesonJ. (2011). Embodied stereotype threat: Exploring brain and body mechanisms underlying performance impairments. In InzlichtM.SchmaderT. (Eds.), Stereotype threat: Theory, process, and application (pp. 51–68). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
20.
Mendoza-DentonR.DowneyG.PurdieV.DavisA.PietrzakJ. (2002). Sensitivity to status-based rejection: Implications for African-American students’ college experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 896–918. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.83.4.896
21.
Mendoza-DentonR.KahnK.ChanW. (2008). Can fixed views of ability boost performance in the context of favorable stereotypes?Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1187–1193. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.03.005
22.
MillerG. E.ChenE. (2007). Unfavorable socioeconomic conditions in early life presage expression of pro-inflammatory phenotype in adolescence. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69, 402–409. doi:10.1097/PSY.0b013e318068fcf9
23.
MillerG. E.ChenE. (2010). Harsh family climate in early life presages the emergence of pro-inflammatory phenotype in adolescence. Psychological Science, 21, 848–856. doi:10.1177/0956797610370161
24.
MillerG. E.ChenE.FokA. K.WalkerH.LimA.NichollsE. F.,…Kobor, M. S. (2009). Low early-life social class leaves a biological residue manifested by decreased glucocorticoid and increased proinflammatory signaling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 14716–14721. doi:10.1073/pnas.0902971106
25.
OperarioD.AdlerN. E.WilliamsD. R. (2004). Subjective social status: Reliability and predictive utility for global health. Psychology & Health, 19, 237–246. doi:10.1080/08870440310001638098
26.
OstroveJ. M.LongS. M. (2007). Social class and belonging: Implications for college adjustment. The Review of Higher Education, 30, 363–389.
27.
RatnerK. G.HalimM. L.AmodioD. M. (2013). Perceived stigmatization, in group pride, and immune and endocrine activity: Evidence from a community sample of Black and Latina women. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 82–91. doi:10.1177/1948550612443715
28.
RheinschmidtM. L.Mendoza-DentonR. (2013). Social class and college outcomes: The interplay of rejection sensitivity and entity beliefs. Manuscript submitted for publication.
29.
SacksP. (2007). Tearing down the gates: Confronting the class divide in American education. Berkeley: University of California Press.
30.
SaxtonK. B.John-HendersonN.ReidM. W.FrancisD. D. (2011). The social environment and IL-6 in rats and humans. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity, 25, 1617–1625. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2011.05.010
31.
SchellerJ.ChalarisA.Schmidt-ArrasD.Rose-JohnS. (2011). The pro- and anti-inflammatory properties of the cytokine Interleukin-6. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1813, 878–888. doi:10.1016/j.bbamcr.2011.01.034
32.
SchmaderT.JohnsM.ForbesC. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychological Review, 115, 336–356. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.115.2.336
33.
SjogrenE.LeandersonP.KristensonM.ErnerudhJ. (2006). Interleukin-6 levels in relation to psychosocial factors: Studies on serum, saliva and in vitro production by blood mononuclear cells. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 20, 270–278. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2005.08.001
34.
SlavichG. M.WayB. M.EisenbergerN. I.TaylorS. E. (2010). Neural sensitivity to social rejection is associated with inflammatory responses to social stress. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107, 14817–14822. doi:10.1073/pnas.1009164107
35.
SpencerB.CastanoE. (2007). Social class is dead. Long live social class! Stereotype threat among low socioeconomic status individuals. Social Justice Research, 20, 418–432. doi:10.1007/s11211-007-0047-7
36.
SteeleC. M.AronsonJ. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797–811. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.797
37.
StoneJ.LynchC. I.SjomelingM.DarleyJ. M. (1999). Stereotype threat effects on black and white athletic performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1213–1227.
38.
StoweR. P.PeekM. K.CutchinM. P.GoodwinJ. S. (2010). Plasma cytokine levels in a population-based study: Relation to age and ethnicity. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 65, 429–433. doi:10.1093/gerona/glp198
39.
WalpoleM. (2003). Socioeconomic status and college: How SES affects college experiences and outcomes. Review of Higher Education: Journal of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, 27, 45–73. doi:10.1353/rhe.2003.0044
40.
WaltonG. M.CohenG. L. (2003). Stereotype lift. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 456–457. doi:10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00019-2
