The relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older Individuals in the United States

Objectives: Existing research has established significant associations between Self-Rated Health (SRH) and subsequent health outcomes such as mortality and morbidity. However, limited research has examined associational changes between Self-Rated Health and these health outcomes. Drawing from the fr...

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Main Author: Wong, Shawn Jun Kit
Other Authors: Premchand Dommaraju
Format: Thesis-Master by Research
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/173234
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1732342024-02-01T09:53:45Z The relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older Individuals in the United States Wong, Shawn Jun Kit Premchand Dommaraju School of Social Sciences premchand@ntu.edu.sg Social sciences::Sociology Objectives: Existing research has established significant associations between Self-Rated Health (SRH) and subsequent health outcomes such as mortality and morbidity. However, limited research has examined associational changes between Self-Rated Health and these health outcomes. Drawing from the framework of health evaluation, associational changes may arise from both reductions and improvements in accuracy of health evaluations. The study therefore seeks to investigate associational changes between Self-Rated Health and subsequent health outcomes in the American context. Another study objective highlights the role of culture in the health evaluation framework. As culture influences the components deemed relevant to Self-rated Health as well as how it is reported, a study examining association differences between Self-Rated health and morbidity in a cross-national context is merited. Method: Fourteen waves (1992-2018) from the Health and Retirement Study were used to investigate associational changes via discrete-time survival analysis. Participants were sorted into three groups (1992, 2000, 2010), according to the year of entry into the study. This was to facilitate a decade-by-decade comparison of associational change. For the cross-national study culture, six waves (2008-2018) from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging were additionally used alongside the corresponding six waves from the Health and Retirement Study. Similarly, discrete-time survival analyses were used to investigate associational differences. Results: No associational changes between SRH and mortality over the decades were noted. Similar findings were observed between SRH and the global measure of morbidity onset. However, associational weakening occurred between SRH and onset of diabetes and cancer, while associational strengthening was found between SRH and onset of high blood pressure. For the cross-national study, differences in the associational strength between SRH and morbidity onset were noted between the Korean and American participants. Each level of decreasing SRH was associated with greater increased risk to morbidity onset in the Korean sample than the American sample. The differences included the global measure of morbidity as well as individual chronic illnesses like cancer, heart disease, stroke and arthritis. Discussion: The absence of associational change between SRH and mortality as well as the global measure of morbidity onset could be attributed to the competing effects of factors improving accuracy of health evaluations with those weakening accuracy of health evaluations. Association change observed for SRH and onset of high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer may be explained by medical screening. The findings highlight the utility of medical screening for chronic diseases, irrespective of one’s perceived health status. For the cross-national study, the findings provide support to cultural differences in health evaluation. American respondents are more likely to provide more optimistic ratings of their health relative to their objective health. Keywords: Self-Rated Health, Mortality, Morbidity, Associational change, Culture Master's degree 2024-01-22T00:41:49Z 2024-01-22T00:41:49Z 2023 Thesis-Master by Research Wong, S. J. K. (2023). The relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older Individuals in the United States. Master's thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/173234 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/173234 10.32657/10356/173234 en This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). application/pdf Nanyang Technological University
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Sociology
spellingShingle Social sciences::Sociology
Wong, Shawn Jun Kit
The relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older Individuals in the United States
description Objectives: Existing research has established significant associations between Self-Rated Health (SRH) and subsequent health outcomes such as mortality and morbidity. However, limited research has examined associational changes between Self-Rated Health and these health outcomes. Drawing from the framework of health evaluation, associational changes may arise from both reductions and improvements in accuracy of health evaluations. The study therefore seeks to investigate associational changes between Self-Rated Health and subsequent health outcomes in the American context. Another study objective highlights the role of culture in the health evaluation framework. As culture influences the components deemed relevant to Self-rated Health as well as how it is reported, a study examining association differences between Self-Rated health and morbidity in a cross-national context is merited. Method: Fourteen waves (1992-2018) from the Health and Retirement Study were used to investigate associational changes via discrete-time survival analysis. Participants were sorted into three groups (1992, 2000, 2010), according to the year of entry into the study. This was to facilitate a decade-by-decade comparison of associational change. For the cross-national study culture, six waves (2008-2018) from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging were additionally used alongside the corresponding six waves from the Health and Retirement Study. Similarly, discrete-time survival analyses were used to investigate associational differences. Results: No associational changes between SRH and mortality over the decades were noted. Similar findings were observed between SRH and the global measure of morbidity onset. However, associational weakening occurred between SRH and onset of diabetes and cancer, while associational strengthening was found between SRH and onset of high blood pressure. For the cross-national study, differences in the associational strength between SRH and morbidity onset were noted between the Korean and American participants. Each level of decreasing SRH was associated with greater increased risk to morbidity onset in the Korean sample than the American sample. The differences included the global measure of morbidity as well as individual chronic illnesses like cancer, heart disease, stroke and arthritis. Discussion: The absence of associational change between SRH and mortality as well as the global measure of morbidity onset could be attributed to the competing effects of factors improving accuracy of health evaluations with those weakening accuracy of health evaluations. Association change observed for SRH and onset of high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer may be explained by medical screening. The findings highlight the utility of medical screening for chronic diseases, irrespective of one’s perceived health status. For the cross-national study, the findings provide support to cultural differences in health evaluation. American respondents are more likely to provide more optimistic ratings of their health relative to their objective health. Keywords: Self-Rated Health, Mortality, Morbidity, Associational change, Culture
author2 Premchand Dommaraju
author_facet Premchand Dommaraju
Wong, Shawn Jun Kit
format Thesis-Master by Research
author Wong, Shawn Jun Kit
author_sort Wong, Shawn Jun Kit
title The relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older Individuals in the United States
title_short The relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older Individuals in the United States
title_full The relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older Individuals in the United States
title_fullStr The relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older Individuals in the United States
title_full_unstemmed The relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older Individuals in the United States
title_sort relationship between self-rated health and subsequent health outcomes over the decades among older individuals in the united states
publisher Nanyang Technological University
publishDate 2024
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/173234
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