Social class consists of material and social resources, measured by objective indicators such as occupation, education, and income, as well as the subjective perception of one’s position or status in the society relative to others (Kraus & Stephens, 2012). Social class contexts shape the self, social perception, and relationships (Kraus et al., 2011; 2012). Subjective assessments of one’s social standing predict important life outcomes such as health, above and beyond objective indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) (e.g. Adler et al., 2000). The most commonly used measure of subjective SES asks individuals to compare themselves to others in the society on the basis of the three objective SES indicators. The assumption is that these indicators are meaningful in people’s assessments of their own status. However, people may draw upon other indicators when making judgments of where they (and others) stand in the society, depending on the cultural contexts they inhabit. These indicators are important to identify and include in culture-specific measures of SSS, as they may relate to life outcomes in particular ways. Introduction Purpose Method Results How Do I Know Where I Stand? Determinants of Social Standing across Two Cultural Contexts Zeynep CEMALCILAR 1 Roza KAMILOGLU 1, Bihter NIGDELI 1, & Nur SOYLU 2 1 Koç University, Department of Psychology, 2 University of Kansas, Department of Psychology References \ Conclusion Data Analysis Participants An online survey was conducted with 428 university students. University students were recruited through Amazon MTurk (N = 92, M age = 25.03, SD = 5.47), the participant pools of a Midwestern university (N = 167), a private university in Istanbul (N = 136, M age = 20.24, SD = 1.57 ) and the Northern Cyprus campus of a Turkish state university (N = 33, M age = 21.79, SD = 1.52). Measures Subjective social standing: Participants were asked to place themselves on a 10- rung ladder, where 1 represents the worse off in the society, and 10 represents the best off (in terms of education, occupation, and income). To half of the participants, the question was asked without mention of the three indicators. Reasons for current social standing: “What are the main reasons that led you to place yourself on this rung of the ladder?” Determinants of SSS: “What, do you think, are the 3 factors that determine a person's social status, besides education, occupation and income?” MTurk participants (US) reported lowest ratings of SSS (M = 4.66, SD = 1.87 ); Istanbul participants reported highest ratings (M = 7.10, SD = 1.50). We combined subsamples to make comparisons between the American and Turkish cultural contexts. When we asked the SSS question without mentioning occupation, education, and income, participants indicated income and education less as a reason of their SSS, and indicated social identity categories more (compared to when we used original version of the question). Many factors figure in people’s judgments of their own subjective social status, depending on cultural context. We found differences in the construction of social standing across samples two countries, which are otherwise similar in characteristics (university students). Future research should focus on constructing culture-specific measures of social standing, which show more precise relationships with health and well-being. TurkeyThe US Income (personal/family)17.%17.5% Personal income1%5.1% Education21.2%8.9% Occupation1%4.2% Family10.3%7.5% Social identity 2.3%11% Mentions of “class”1.3%11.3% Transition/social mobility6.8%5.7% Table 1 Reasons for current social standing. TurkeyThe US Personality/attitude18.1% 18.8% Relationships/social skills15.1% 15.4% Family 12.7%8.8% Culture/perspective/awareness12.7%2.9% Social identity5.7%6.9% Physical appearance5.8%5.7% Possessions/wealth0.8%8% Intelligence/abilities2.7%4.6% Location0.5%6.9% Prestige/respect3.8%1.6% Ambition/motivation/drive0.5%4.6% Morality2.7%0.8% Table 2 Determinants of subjective social standing. Three independent coders developed an inductive coding scheme by reading all the open-ended responses. 41 categories were constructed. The coders then coded each response based on these categories. One response could be coded under multiple categories We set out to examine the determinants of SSS that people deem important in the US and in Turkey to highlight possible cultural differences. We used a qualitative design to provide an initial analysis of a previously unexamined issue. Participants considered income and education as important reasons for their current social standing, in line with the commonly used measure of SSS, both in Turkey and in the US. However, family, social identities (gender, race, ethnicity, religion), social class, and perceived opportunities for mobility also figured in judgments of SSS. Occupation did not play a large role, possibly due to our sample consisting of students. American participants mentioned personal income, social identities, and social class more frequently than Turkish participants. Both Turkish and American participants considered personality characteristics and relationships or network as the most important determinants of a person’s social standing. Turkish participants emphasized family, being a “cultured” person, prestige/respect, and morality and ethical values more; American participants emphasized possessions, intelligence and abilities, location (where one lives), and having ambition and motivation more. 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