Socio-economic Status Scales: Modified Kuppuswamy Scale

 Socio-economic Status Scales: 

Modified Kuppuswamy Scale 

Socioeconomic status (SES) is the social standing or class of an individual or group[1]. It plays a significant role in determining an individual’s quality of life, health, social position, and class. 

The are different well accepted and popular SES scales used in India which are as follows:

• Rahudkar Scale (1960)
• B G. Prasad Scale  (1961)
• Udai Parikh Scale  (1964)
• Jalota Scale (1970)
• Kulshrestha Scale  (1972),
• Kuppuswamy Scale  (1976)
• Srivastava Scale (1978)
• Bhardwaj  Scale (2001).

Modified Kuppuswamy Scale

It is the most commonly used scale for determining the socio-economic status of urban families. It is also commonly used scales in Nepalese context out of  many which are listed above. This scale takes three aspects:- education and occupation of the head of the family, and total monthly family income. This scale is revised time after time due to changing nature of per capita income[2].

Table-1: Score for each aspects of Kuppuswamy scale

Source: https://www.apa.org/topics/socioeconomic-status

Joshi SK and Acharya K  had modified the Kuppuswamy scale from 1976 in the context of Nepal in the year 2019 where only income part is modified whereas all other parts are similar to the Kuppuswamy scale from 1976 [3] .

Table-2 Modified income aspect of Kuppuswamy scale as per Nepali context

Source: Joshi, S. K., and K. Acharya. "Modification of Kuppuswamy’s socioeconomic status scale in the context of Nepal, 2019." Kathmandu Univ Med J (KUMJ) 17.65 (2019): 1-2.

The major parameter of modeified Kuppuswamy scale are:

• Education of Head of Family

• Occupation of Head of the Family

• Monthly income of the Family

Education of Head of Family

It consist of 7 categories. Each categories are given certain score as given in the table-1.  The explanation of classification of education of head of the family is given below [4].

Source: https://www.indianpediatrics.net/oct2017/oct-867-870.html

Occupation of head of the family: 

It consist of seven categories. Each categories are given certain score as mentioned in table-1. The explanation of classification of occupation of head of the family is given below:[4] 

Source: https://www.indianpediatrics.net/oct2017/oct-867-870.html

Income of family: 

It consist of seven categories each of which carries certian score as mentioned in table-1 ( for India) and table-2 (for Nepal).

Calculation of score and classification of socioeconomic status.

The score obtained in each of the three aspects of Kuppuswamy scales are added together to obtain full score. The total score obtained ranged from 3 to 29. The ses status can be further classified into upper, upper middle, middle, lower middle  and  lower  class. 

Source: Majumder, Suranjan. Socioeconomic status scales: Revised Kuppuswamy, BG Prasad, and Udai Pareekh’s scale updated for 2021. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care: November 2021 - Volume 10 - Issue 11 - p 3964-3967 doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_600_21

References:

1. https://www.apa.org/topics/socioeconomic-status
2. Majumder, Suranjan. Socioeconomic status scales: Revised Kuppuswamy, BG Prasad, and Udai Pareekh’s scale updated for 2021. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care: November 2021 - Volume 10 - Issue 11 - p 3964-3967 doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_600_21
3. Joshi, S. K., and K. Acharya. "Modification of Kuppuswamy’s socioeconomic status scale in the context of Nepal, 2019." Kathmandu Univ Med J (KUMJ) 17.65 (2019): 1-2.
4. https://www.indianpediatrics.net/oct2017/oct-867-870.htm