Association of subjective social status and sociodemographic indicators in athletes

Subjective social status comprises the perception of individuals about their social status. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between subjective social status and sociodemographic indicators (age, educational level, marital status and economic level) in athletes from Santa Catharina. A total of 593 athletes of both sexes and mean age of 21.18 (+ or - 5.58) years, 371 men, randomly selected, practitioners of individual and collective sport modalities, federated in clubs in the western region of Santa Catarina participated in the study. Social status perception was assessed using the MacArthur scale version for young people adapted to the sports context. For the association between perceived status and sociodemographic indicators, the Chi-square and Multinomial Logistic Regression tests were used, stratified by gender and adjusted for age variables, educational level, marital status and socioeconomic status. Dissatisfaction with status was found in 85% of the sample. Moreover, 46.9% of participants perceived themselves with low family status and 46% perceived themselves with intermediate status in their clubs. The association between groups showed statistically significant differences according to sex, age, educational level and marital status. The association between sociodemographic variables and status according to sex indicated that younger men, with less education, and single were more likely to be dissatisfied with their status. There is need for greater attention by health professionals regarding younger male athletes, with lower education and single regarding their status perception.