An exploratory study on socio economic status scales in a rural and urban setting

BACKGROUND: There are many different scales to measure socioeconomic status (SES). The present study was conducted with the objective to compare the most commonly used SES in rural and urban setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This exploratory study was conducted in the rural and urban field practice area of a medical college situated in Bangalore for a period of 3 months between January and April 2010. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: To measure the agreement between the scales spearman's rank correlations was applied. RESULTS: A total of 120 families were included in the study. Among the 60 families surveyed at rural setting, it was observed that, majority 40 (67%) belonged to high class when the Standard of Living Index (SLI) scale was applied. Among the 60 families surveyed at urban setting, majority 30 (50%) belonged to high class when the SLI scale was applied. CONCLUSIONS: The SLI scale gives a more accurate and realistic picture of the SES of the family and hence should be the scale recommended for classification of SES in urban and rural setting.