Older adults rate their mental health better than their general health
<em>Background</em>. Self-rated health (SRH) shows strong associations with measures of health and well-being. Increasingly, studies have used self-rated mental health (SRMH) as a predictor of various outcomes, independently or together with SRH. Research has not firmly established if an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2017-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Public Health Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/967 |
| _version_ | 1797966869850750976 |
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| author | Elena M. Magwene Ana R. Quiñones Gillian L. Marshall Lena K. Makaroun Stephen Thielke |
| author_facet | Elena M. Magwene Ana R. Quiñones Gillian L. Marshall Lena K. Makaroun Stephen Thielke |
| author_sort | Elena M. Magwene |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <em>Background</em>. Self-rated health (SRH) shows strong associations with measures of health and well-being. Increasingly, studies have used self-rated mental health (SRMH) as a predictor of various outcomes, independently or together with SRH. Research has not firmly established if and how these two constructs differ. We sought to characterize the relationship between SRH and SRMH, and to determine how this relationship differed across subgroups defined by sociodemographic and health-related characteristics.<br /><em>Design and methods.</em> We analyzed data from the 2012 CAHPS Medicare Advantage Survey. SRH and SRMH ratings were crosstabulated to determine the distribution of responses across response categories. The expected joint probability distribution was computed and compared to the observed distribution. A constructed variable indicated whether SRMH was better, the same, or worse than SRH. We analyzed the distribution of this variable across various subgroups defined by sociodemographic and health-related factors. <br /><em>Results</em>. A total of 114,905 Medicare Advantage beneficiaries responded to both the SRH and SRMH questions. Both in general and within all subgroups, SRMH was usually rated as better than SRH, and rarely as worse. <br /><em>Conclusions</em>. Within a large group of Medicare recipients, the overwhelming trend was for recipients to rate their mental health as at least as good as their overall health, regardless of any sociodemographic and health-related factors. This finding of a shifted distribution encourages caution in the analytic use of selfrated mental health, particularly the use of both SRH and SRMH for adjustment. Additional research is needed to help clarify the complex relationship between these variables. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:21:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-001d5451c9774918bd519bd2ed29eed3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2279-9028 2279-9036 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:21:06Z |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Public Health Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-001d5451c9774918bd519bd2ed29eed32023-01-02T23:27:12ZengSAGE PublishingJournal of Public Health Research2279-90282279-90362017-09-016210.4081/jphr.2017.967177Older adults rate their mental health better than their general healthElena M. Magwene0Ana R. Quiñones1Gillian L. Marshall2Lena K. Makaroun3Stephen Thielke4Mental Health Service, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WAOregon Health and Science University, Portland, ORUniversity of Washington, Seattle, WAUniversity of Washington, Seattle, WA; VA Health Services Research and Development, VA Puget Sound Healthcare System, Seattle, WAUniversity of Washington, Seattle, WA; Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA<em>Background</em>. Self-rated health (SRH) shows strong associations with measures of health and well-being. Increasingly, studies have used self-rated mental health (SRMH) as a predictor of various outcomes, independently or together with SRH. Research has not firmly established if and how these two constructs differ. We sought to characterize the relationship between SRH and SRMH, and to determine how this relationship differed across subgroups defined by sociodemographic and health-related characteristics.<br /><em>Design and methods.</em> We analyzed data from the 2012 CAHPS Medicare Advantage Survey. SRH and SRMH ratings were crosstabulated to determine the distribution of responses across response categories. The expected joint probability distribution was computed and compared to the observed distribution. A constructed variable indicated whether SRMH was better, the same, or worse than SRH. We analyzed the distribution of this variable across various subgroups defined by sociodemographic and health-related factors. <br /><em>Results</em>. A total of 114,905 Medicare Advantage beneficiaries responded to both the SRH and SRMH questions. Both in general and within all subgroups, SRMH was usually rated as better than SRH, and rarely as worse. <br /><em>Conclusions</em>. Within a large group of Medicare recipients, the overwhelming trend was for recipients to rate their mental health as at least as good as their overall health, regardless of any sociodemographic and health-related factors. This finding of a shifted distribution encourages caution in the analytic use of selfrated mental health, particularly the use of both SRH and SRMH for adjustment. Additional research is needed to help clarify the complex relationship between these variables.http://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/967Self-rated mental health, self-rated health, CAHPS, Older Adults |
| spellingShingle | Elena M. Magwene Ana R. Quiñones Gillian L. Marshall Lena K. Makaroun Stephen Thielke Older adults rate their mental health better than their general health Journal of Public Health Research Self-rated mental health, self-rated health, CAHPS, Older Adults |
| title | Older adults rate their mental health better than their general health |
| title_full | Older adults rate their mental health better than their general health |
| title_fullStr | Older adults rate their mental health better than their general health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Older adults rate their mental health better than their general health |
| title_short | Older adults rate their mental health better than their general health |
| title_sort | older adults rate their mental health better than their general health |
| topic | Self-rated mental health, self-rated health, CAHPS, Older Adults |
| url | http://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/967 |
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