Perceived Social Status Scale (PSSS): Development, Validity, and Reliability Study

Abstract

Social status is the relative social position a person holds, as subjectively assessed by others. The aim of this study is to develop a culturally specific, self-report scale designed to assess thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to perceived social status. The developed scale was analyzed on two different samples of 339 and 384 individuals. The first sample, where the factor structure of the scale was examined, consisted of 339 individuals aged 18-64 (67% female, 33% male), while the second sample, where the confirmatory factor analysis was performed, consisted of 384 individuals aged 18-64 (64.6% female, 35.4% male). The Life Satisfaction Scale, the General Belonging Scale, and the Social Connectedness Scale were used for the co- validation criterion. In the applied Exploratory Factor Analysis, principal axis analysis and oblimin rotation method were used, and as a result of this analysis, a 36-item scale consisting of two factors, “perception of social status related to individual-environment interaction” and “perception of social status related to demographic characteristics”, explaining 43.3%ofthe totalvariance, wasdeveloped. The fitindicesobtained from the Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the scale's structure are within an acceptable range (χ2 /sd = 2.89, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .08, PNFI = .73). Unlike existing scales in the Turkish sample, the PSSS measures social status from the perspectives of thought, emotion, and behavior, and is considered a reliable and valid measurement tool that can be used in research to be conducted in different fields of psychology, especially clinical psychology.