Scalability and validity of the socio-economic status items of the Purdue Opinion Poll

Abstract

Two independent random samples of 100 cases yielded the finding that the items comprising the Socio-economic Status Index used by the Purdue Poll is scalable in the Guttman sense. The responses to a checklist of 300 personal problems items by a group of 646 "high status" HS students was compared with the responses of a group of 1809 "low status" students. The groups differed significantly on 39 items. It was concluded that the Status Index "… is valid in that it correlates significantly with individual problems reported by… HS pupils." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)