Department or Program

Psychology

Abstract

Having higher social class (e.g., income and subjective social class) relates to higher well-being (e.g., meaning in life (MIL) and life satisfaction (LS)), partly due to resources and privileges associated with high social class (Kraus et al., 2012). Having high levels of financially contingent self-worth (CSW) – staking self-worth on financial success – is linked to negative outcomes (Park et al., 2017). Across two studies, participants from Connect (N = 224) completed measures of social class (income and the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Socioeconomic Status), well-being (MIL and LS), and financially CSW. Data were analyzed using multiple regressions and tests of simple slopes. Study 1 generally revealed stronger positive relationships between social class and well-being for those with high compared to low financially CSW. Having low social class predicted lower well-being for those with high compared to low financially CSW, indicating that financially CSW is disadvantageous. Moreover, having high social class revealed no differences in well-being comparing high versus low financially CSW. Because of the known relationships between social class, financially CSW, and autonomy (Ward & King, 2019; Ward et al., 2020), Study 2 included an autonomy scale (Gagné, 2003), with data analyzed using Hayes’ (2022) PROCESS macro, revealing that autonomy explains the relationship between social class and well-being more for those with high compared to low financially CSW. Our findings indicate that people rely on social class for autonomy when they have high compared to low financially CSW, and that having low financially CSW predicts high autonomy regardless of social class.

Level of Access

Restricted: Embargoed [Open Access After Expiration]

First Advisor

Boucher, Helen

Date of Graduation

5-2026

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Number of Pages

63

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Embargoed

Available to all on Thursday, May 06, 2027

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