| Abstract: |
This paper presents a study on the association between dimensions of poverty
(income, subjective socioeconomic status, deprivation, and socioeconomic
status in childhood) and individual psychological characteristics. In this
study, our goal was to determine: 1) the differences in individual
psychological characteristics between poor and non-poor people; 2) the effect
of each dimension, or indicator, of poverty on individual psychological
characteristics (self-esteem, life satisfaction, trust, self-efficacy,
self-control, dispositional greed, and individual values); and 3) the
relationship between each indicator of poverty and each individual
psychological characteristic. We collected data from 157 poor (those whose
incomes fall below the poverty threshold) and 140 non-poor (those whose
incomes exceed the poverty threshold) participants from Moscow and the greater
Moscow region by administering questionnaires containing measures of
individual psychological characteristics and poverty. We analyzed the data
using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), and part and partial
correlation analysis. The results obtained revealed that poverty had
significant multivariate effects on individual psychological characteristics
(univariate effects were significant for self-esteem, life satisfaction,
Self-Transcendence values, and trust); in addition, all indicators of poverty
except income had significant multivariate effects on individual psychological
characteristics. Furthermore, subjective socioeconomic status was positively
associated with life satisfaction, self-esteem, self-transcendence values, and
trust; deprivation was positively associated with greed and self-enhancement
values, and negatively associated with life satisfaction and self-esteem;
socioeconomic status in childhood was positively associated with greed,
self-enhancement values, life satisfaction and self-efficacy. |