Does Subjective Social Status Predict Suicidality beyond Objective Social Status in the United States?

Social status is inversely related to negative health outcomes, including suicide. While extensive research suggests that subjective status measures are better than objective status measures at predicting health outcomes, this trend may or may not predict suicidality—thinking about and/or attempting suicide. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health ( N = 7,155), I estimate survey-weighted logistic regressions to examine the relationship between social status and suicidality and compare subjective versus objective status measures for predicting suicidality. I find that status measures are consistently inversely related to suicidality, and that even when controlling for objective status, subjective status continues to predict suicidality. Bridging a strain theory of suicide with Durkheim’s anomie, I argue that different measures of status proxy different strains, which, in turn, decrease moral regulation and increase suicide risk. These findings contribute to the sociology of suicide by demonstrating how social inequalities translate into suicide risk.