Intelligence, socioeconomic background, emotional capacity, and level of education as predictors of attained socioeconomic position in a cohort of Swedish men

The question whether a person's attained socioeconomic position is mainly due to hers/his intelligence, socioeconomic background, or level of education, has sparked some controversy.In the present study, the effects of these three variables, as well as emotional capacity, on attained occupational position and on income were analyzed with structural equation modeling in a prospective cohort of Swedish men (N = 48,013), born between 1949 and 1951. Intelligence and level of education were identified to have the strongest total effect on attained occupational position (β = .46 and β = .49, respectively), while the effects of socioeconomic background and emotional capacity were rather weak (β = .19 and β = .11). Except for emotional capacity, the predictors had weaker effects on income than on attained occupational position. A comparison with earlier British studies indicated that in Sweden social position of origin is a less important predictor of a person's attained level of education and socioeconomic or occupational position in midlife.

► Attained socioeconomic position in a Swedish male cohort was predicted using SEM.
► Education has the strongest direct effect on attained occupational position (AOP).
► Education and intelligence have the strongest total effects on AOP.
► Effects of socioeconomic background and emotional capacity on AOP are rather weak.
► Except for emotional capacity, the effects on income are weaker than on AOP.