When oneʹs main effect is anotherʹs error: Material vs. psychosocial explanations of health disparities. A commentary on Macleod et al., “Is subjective social status a more important determinant of health than objective social status? Evidence from a pros

Two pathways by which socioeconomic factors result in health disparities are the material and the psychosocial. Recently, Macleod and colleagues reported on data showing that a subjective measure of workplace status was not as strongly related to mortality as were objective indicators and that another psychosocial measure, perceived stress, did not mediate the impact of these indicators [Macleod et al., 2005. Is subjective social status a more important determinant of health than objective social status? Evidence from a prospective observational study of Scottish men. Social Science & Medicine, 61(9), 1916–1929]. They suggest that the failure of these variables is indicative of the relative insignificance of psychosocial influences on health.