Believing that one’s socioeconomic position could decline in the future may itself erode well-being by heightening anxiety about social status, according to four studies led by Davide Melita of the University of Granada. The research suggests that expectations of downward movement have a clearer and stronger impact on people’s happiness than expectations of upward mobility.
The studies collectively involved 2,819 participants across Spain and the United States. The first two surveys examined how beliefs about mobility in society at large relate to status anxiety and well-being, while the final two experiments tested whether altering people’s expectations about their own economic futures could influence those feelings.
In Study 1, 216 full-time workers in the United States (average age 39; 49% women) were surveyed about mobility beliefs in American society. Those who thought downward mobility was more common reported greater status anxiety, which in turn correlated with lower life satisfaction, poorer perceived health and more depressive symptoms. Beliefs about upward mobility were not linked to status anxiety.
Study 2 surveyed 1,536 Spaniards (51% women) to resemble the national population, using single questions about whether participants expected their own socioeconomic status to improve or worsen. Expecting one’s own status to worsen was associated with greater status anxiety and lower life satisfaction. Interestingly, expecting one’s status to improve was also linked to greater status anxiety, though it was directly associated with higher life satisfaction as well. The authors suggest that strong expectations of change in either direction may introduce uncertainty about the future.
The researchers then moved from observation to experimentation. In Study 3, 472 Spanish university students (average age 22; 70% women) imagined starting a new life in a fictional society called Bimboola. Everyone began in the middle-income group, but participants were randomly told they had good chances of moving up, staying in the same group, or moving down, with inequality held constant. Those told they were likely to move down reported more status anxiety than those told they were likely to stay put, though the difference was small. Exploratory analyses suggested that increased anxiety predicted lower satisfaction with their imagined life in Bimboola; being told they were likely to move up did not affect status anxiety.
Study 4 repeated the experiment with 595 employed Americans recruited online. Here the manipulation produced stronger effects: prospects of moving down increased status anxiety, while prospects of moving up reduced it, and these shifts in anxiety carried through to life satisfaction in Bimboola in opposite directions. The negative impact of anticipated decline was larger than the positive impact of potential advancement.
Across the four studies, downward mobility beliefs consistently aligned with greater status anxiety and, through that anxiety, with lower well-being. By contrast, results for upward mobility varied between studies, and only the United States experiment found that prospects of moving up reduced status anxiety and indirectly boosted life satisfaction.
“Our findings suggest that both upward and downward beliefs influence well-being through status anxiety, but the effects of downward mobility beliefs are stronger and more consistent,” the authors wrote, summarising their conclusions. They argue that policies aimed at improving well-being should not only expand opportunities for upward mobility but also protect vulnerable groups from economic downturns, for example by strengthening social safety nets.
Several limitations are noted. The first two studies were correlational, and Study 2 used single questions to gauge mobility expectations. The experiments used an imaginary society rather than real unemployment or income loss, and measured life satisfaction in that imagined setting rather than in participants’ actual lives. The researchers also cautioned that cultural context could shape reactions: the Spanish sample involved young adults in a country with high youth unemployment, while Americans may overestimate the level of mobility in society.
The study, “Prospects of Downward Mobility Cause Status Anxiety and Life Dissatisfaction,” was authored by Davide Melita, Matthias S. Gobel, Juan Matamoros-Lima, Rosa Rodríguez-Bailón and Guillermo B. Willis.
