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Why do Italian people rate their health worse than French people do? An exploration of cross-country differentials of self-rated health

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  • Desesquelles, Aline F.
  • Egidi, Viviana
  • Salvatore, Michele A.

Abstract

The prevalence of bad self-rated health (SRH) varies considerably across countries. Here we present the results of a cross-national comparative study based on the data of National Health Surveys conducted in France and Italy. According to these data, 11% of the Italian and 6% of the French adult population aged between 45 and 74 rate their health as bad or very bad. This gap may result from differences in population structure regarding the individual characteristics (sociodemographic characteristics, diseases and disabilities, lifestyle, and others) that impact on SRH i.e., a structural effect. It may also be that the link between these characteristics and SRH is "country-specific" i.e., a contextual effect. We use logistic regression models to assess the contribution of both explanations. We find that the structural effect plays a prominent role in the higher prevalence of bad SRH in Italy compared to France.

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  • Desesquelles, Aline F. & Egidi, Viviana & Salvatore, Michele A., 2009. "Why do Italian people rate their health worse than French people do? An exploration of cross-country differentials of self-rated health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1124-1128, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:68:y:2009:i:6:p:1124-1128
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    2. Sime Smolic, 2017. "The determinants of health among the population aged 50 and over: evidence from Croatia," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 41(1), pages 85-108.
    3. Aline Désesquelles, 2012. "Self-Rated Health of French prison inmates : measurement and comparison with other health indicators," Working Papers 178, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED).
    4. Jylhä, Marja, 2009. "What is self-rated health and why does it predict mortality? Towards a unified conceptual model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 307-316, August.
    5. O'Reilly, Dermot & Rosato, Michael, 2010. "Dissonances in self-reported health and mortality across denominational groups in Northern Ireland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(5), pages 1011-1017, September.
    6. Sime Smolic & Ivan Cipin & Petra Medimurec, 2020. "How is health associated with employment during later working life in Croatia?," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 44(1), pages 99-116.
    7. Signe Nielsen & Allan Krasnik, 2010. "Poorer self-perceived health among migrants and ethnic minorities versus the majority population in Europe: a systematic review," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(5), pages 357-371, October.
    8. Shervin Assari & James Smith & Mohsen Bazargan, 2019. "Depression Fully Mediates the Effect of Multimorbidity on Self-Rated Health for Economically Disadvantaged African American Men but Not Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-16, May.
    9. Aline Désesquelles, 2012. "Self-Rated Health of French prison inmates : does time sprent behind bars matters ?," Working Papers 179, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED).
    10. Patricia Gómez-Costilla & Carmen García-Prieto & Noelia Somarriba-Arechavala, 2022. "Aging and Gender Health Gap: A Multilevel Analysis for 17 European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 1051-1069, April.
    11. George Ploubidis & Emily Grundy, 2011. "Health Measurement in Population Surveys: Combining Information from Self-reported and Observer-Measured Health Indicators," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(2), pages 699-724, May.

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