Self-Rated Health

Factor: Power and Autonomy

Age: Adult

Duration: Less than 3 minutes

Reading Level: 6th-8th grade

What

Developed by John Ware and Cathy Sherbourne (1992), Self-Rated Health is a single item that captures how healthy people think they are. It asks, “In general, would you say your health is poor, fair, good, very good, or excellent?”

Who

Researchers have used this measure in nationally representative surveys of Americans across all income levels, races, and ethnicities (Barger, 2006).

How

INSTRUCTIONS

Using a 5-point scale (1 = excellent; 5 = poor), respondents rate their own physical health. Researchers then calculate a score for each respondent by using the response to that single item.

RESPONSE FORMAT

1 = excellent; 2 = very good; 3 = good; 4= fair; 5 = poor.

Why It Matters

People who report that they are in poor health are likely to suffer from various physical and mental health conditions years later in their lives (e.g., cancer, cardiac disease, epilepsy, depression; Goldberg et al., 2001). Poor self-rated health is also related to a higher risk of death years later in people’s lives (Burström & Fredlund, 2001). In general, Americans with less education tend to feel less healthy than those with higher levels of education (Barger, 2006). Because poor health can lead to loss of employment and financial problems, the Self-Rated Health Scale is important to measure in communities living on a low income.

HEADS UP

Researchers have not yet confirmed whether self-rated health affects socioeconomic status, socioeconomic status affects self-rated health, or some third factor drives both self-rated health and socioeconomic status.

References

Barger, S. D. (2006). Do psychological characteristics explain socioeconomic stratification of self-rated health? Journal of Health Psychology, 11(1), 21-35.

Burström, B., & Fredlund, P. (2001). Self rated health: Is it as good a predictor of subsequent mortality among adults in lower as well as in higher social classes?. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 55(11), 836-840.

Goldberg, P., Gueguen, A., Schmaus, A., Nakache, J. P., & Goldberg, M. (2001). Longitudinal study of associations between perceived health status and self-reported diseases in the French Gazel cohort. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 55(4), 233-238.

Ware Jr, J. E., & Sherbourne, C. D. (1992). The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36): I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Medical Care, 473-483.