Comparing self-rated health and self-assessed change in health in a longitudinal survey: Which is more valid?

Gunasekara, Fiona Imlach; Carter, Kristie; Blakely, Tony

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.11.038

Cited by 56 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Specifically, this implies that respondents might think about their level of cognitive complaints relative to the level of cognitive complaints of those in their surroundings who are not receiving an anti-dementia treatment. Consequently, there might be problems with floor and ceiling effects in the measurements of this concept [39]. Therefore, we suggest future research to modify the measure of self-reported cognitive complaints in such a way that it measures self-assessed change between two measurement moments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can volunteering in later life reduce the risk of dementia? A 5-year longitudinal study among volunteering and non-volunteering retired seniors

et al. 2017

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We propose that voluntary work, characterized by social, physical and cognitive activity in later life is associated with fewer cognitive problems and lower dementia rates. We test these assumptions using 3-wave, self-reported, and registry data from the 2010, 2012, and 2014 Swedish National Prescribed Drug Register. We had three groups of seniors in our data: 1) no volunteering (N = 531), 2) discontinuous volunteering (N = 220), and 3) continuous volunteering (N = 250). We conducted a path analysis in Mplus to investigate the effect of voluntary work (discontinuously and continuously) on self-reported cognitive complaints and the likelihood of being prescribed an anti-dementia treatment after controlling for baseline and relevant background variables. Our results indicated that seniors, who continuously volunteered, reported a decrease in their cognitive complaints over time, whereas no such associations were found for the other groups. In addition, they were 2.44 (95%CI [1.86; 3.21]) and 2.46 (95%CI [1,89; 3.24]) times less likely to be prescribed an anti-dementia treatment in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Our results largely support the assumptions that voluntary work in later life is associated with lower self-reported cognitive complaints and a lower risk for dementia, relative to those who do not engage, or only engage episodically in voluntary work.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can volunteering in later life reduce the risk of dementia? A 5-year longitudinal study among volunteering and non-volunteering retired seniors

et al. 2017

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“…There is ample research that suggests caution in using a subjective measure of self-rated health to understand health inequality, with recent studies confirming differences in meaning across age and socioeconomic status and expressing concern over the longitudinal validity of the measure and its ability to capture change in health (eg. Dowd & Zajacova, 2010; Gunasekara, Carter, & Blakely, 2012; Layes, Asada, & Kepart, 2012). Moreover, although evidence suggests that different diseases may involve different causal variables and mechanisms (Galobardes, Lynch, & Davey Smith, 2004) with some, such as heart disease, potentially more strongly linked to early life circumstances than others, studies that focus on one disease give us information on mechanisms and proximal causes for only one specific manifestation of health inequality (Phelan et al, 2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic hardship in childhood and adult health trajectories: An alternative approach to investigating life-course processes

Shuey

Willson

2014

Advances in Life Course Research

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In this study, we advance existing research on health as a life course process by conceptualizing and measuring both childhood disadvantage and health as dynamic processes in order to investigate the relationship between trajectories of early life socioeconomic conditions and trajectories of health in midlife. We utilize a trajectory-based analysis that takes a disaggregated, person-centered approach to understand dynamic trajectories of health as latent variables that reflect the timing, duration and change in health conditions experienced by respondents over a period of 10 years in midlife as a function of stability and change in exposure to economic hardship in early life. Results from repeated-measures latent class analysis of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics indicate that economic hardship in childhood has long-term, negative consequences for health both among individuals beginning life and remaining in poverty as well as those moving into poverty. In contrast, adults with more advantaged early life experiences, or who moved out of poverty during the period of observation, were at a lower risk of experiencing health trajectories characterized by the early onset or increasing risk of disease. We argue that a person-centered, disaggregated approach to the study of the relationship between socioeconomic status and health across the life course holds potential for the study of health inequality and that a greater focus on trajectory-based analysis is needed.

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“…The rate of experiencing the event of entering poor or very poor health per 100 person‐years in the Russian sample was 5.0 (95% CI: 4.8; 5.3) (Table ), substantially higher than the rate in the British sample (3.9, 95% CI: 3.7; 4.0) (Table ). This result, directly comparing reported change in health in Britain and Russia, should be interpreted with caution because individuals in one of the countries may be more responsive on average to adverse health shocks when reporting self‐rated health (Gunasekara et al ., ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

A prospective analysis of labour market status and self‐rated health in the UK and Russia

Platts

2015

Econ Transit

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Comparing prospective data from the UK and Russia, this paper analyzes whether the association of labour market status, and particularly unemployment, with subsequent health varies by the level of state protection provided to the unemployed. While the UK's unemployment welfare regime is classified as providing minimal protection, the Russian regime is sub‐protective. Employing Cox duration analysis upon data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey and the British Household Panel Survey for the period 2000–2007, this study finds that labour market status and economic circumstances independently predicted individual‐level declines in self‐rated health and, contrary to expectations, the associations of unemployment with health decline were similarly sized in the two countries.

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Comparing self-rated health and self-assessed change in health in a longitudinal survey: Which is more valid?

Cited by 56 publications

References 50 publications

Can volunteering in later life reduce the risk of dementia? A 5-year longitudinal study among volunteering and non-volunteering retired seniors

Can volunteering in later life reduce the risk of dementia? A 5-year longitudinal study among volunteering and non-volunteering retired seniors

Economic hardship in childhood and adult health trajectories: An alternative approach to investigating life-course processes

A prospective analysis of labour market status and self‐rated health in the UK and Russia

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