American Psychologist, Vol 81(3), Apr 2026, 299-315; doi:10.1037/amp0001513
This study introduces the concept of cumulative social advantage as a hierarchical construct encompassing multiple aspects of social connection, including religious, psychosocial, familial, and emotional dimensions. Using data from the Midlife Development in the United States–II (n = 4,028) and Refresher (n = 2,586) cohorts, we assessed the dimensionality, replicability, measurement invariance, and validity of a hierarchical model. Results support measurement invariance across demographic groups and demonstrate the model’s convergent and predictive validity. Cumulative social advantage was associated with lower multimorbidity (β = −.17 [−.22, −.13], p p p p p