Asymmetry and Intersectionality in the Effects of Income Change on Subjective Well-Being

• In Event: 4255 - Section on Economic Sociology Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 5. Income Inequality and Well-being

Abstract

The literature on the relationship between income change and psychological health has generally either made no theoretical distinction between income gains and losses—assuming symmetry in the way gains and losses relate to subjective well-being (SWB)—or has looked at gains exclusively. This research has also primarily emphasized measures of positive affect and cognitive well-being. In this study, I focus on the negative, using measures of negative affect (psychological distress) and life dissatisfaction, and consider both positive and negative changes in income to determine whether the impacts of income change on negative aspects of SWB are asymmetric. Results support the hypothesis that losses in income are associated with larger changes in psychological distress than are income gains, indicating asymmetry in the relationship between income change and change in negative affect (but not cognitive well-being). Findings also suggest heterogeneity in the income change-SWB relationship across intersectional categories of race and gender that corresponds with a racial health paradox identified in the extant literature.

Author

• Jarron Bowman, Duke University