IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v362y2024ics0277953624008955.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do discrepancies between subjective and objective health shift over time in later life? A markov transition model

Author

Listed:
  • Calvey, Bill
  • McHugh Power, Joanna
  • Maguire, Rebecca
  • de Andrade Moral, Rafael
  • de Lara, Idemauro Antonio Rodrigues

Abstract

Subjective health (SH) deteriorates less rapidly than objective health (OH) in older adults. However, scant evidence exists regarding if discrepancies between SH and OH shift in the same individuals over time. We explore whether such discrepancies change over time in a sample of older adults living in England, through a prospective, observational cohort study design. Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we followed a sample of 6803 older adults, aged 60+ years at baseline, over three waves of data collection (2002–2007), yielding two wave transitions. A ‘health asymmetry’ metric classified older adults into four categories at each wave, based on the level of agreement between their SH and OH scores (‘health pessimist’, ‘health optimist’, ‘good health realist’ and ‘poor health realist’). First-order Markov transition and generalised logit models yielded estimated transition probabilities and odds ratios for health asymmetry transitions over time. At baseline, 36.84% of the sample were ‘good health realists’, 33% were ‘poor health realists’, 14.54% were ‘health optimists’, and 15.62% were ‘health pessimists’. Good and poor health realists were likely to remain health realistic over time. Good health realists who did transition however, were likely to become health optimists. Subsequently, the proportion of health optimists in the sample increased over time. Health pessimists had a high probability of being lost to study attrition. In conclusion, health optimism (i.e. where SH is rated better than OH) becomes more prevalent over time, in later life. Future research should investigate if promoting positive SH appraisals among health pessimists and poor health realists can optimise health and survival outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Calvey, Bill & McHugh Power, Joanna & Maguire, Rebecca & de Andrade Moral, Rafael & de Lara, Idemauro Antonio Rodrigues, 2024. "Do discrepancies between subjective and objective health shift over time in later life? A markov transition model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:362:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624008955
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117441
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624008955
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117441?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. van Buuren, Stef & Groothuis-Oudshoorn, Karin, 2011. "mice: Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 45(i03).
    2. Michael Baker & Mark Stabile & Catherine Deri, 2004. "What Do Self-Reported, Objective, Measures of Health Measure?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(4).
    3. Roozbei Hosseini & Karen Kopecky & Kai Zhao, 2022. "The Evolution of Health over the Life Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 45, pages 237-263, July.
    4. Sheung-Tak Cheng & Helene Fung & Alfred Chan, 2007. "Maintaining Self-Rated Health Through Social Comparison in Old Age," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 62(5), pages 277-285.
    5. Layes, Audrey & Asada, Yukiko & Kephart, George, 2012. "Whiners and deniers – What does self-rated health measure?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 1-9.
    6. Mackenbach, J.P. & Looman, C.W.N. & Van Der Meer, J.B.W., 1996. "Differences in the misreporting of chronic conditions, by level of education: The effect on inequalities in prevalence rates," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 86(5), pages 706-711.
    7. Bailis, Daniel S. & Segall, Alexander & Chipperfield, Judith G., 2003. "Two views of self-rated general health status," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 203-217, January.
    8. Jahanvash Karim & Robert Weisz & Zainab Bibi & Shafiq Ur Rehman, 2015. "Validation of the Eight-Item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) Among Older Adults," Post-Print hal-01796436, HAL.
    9. Aisling M. O’Halloran & Ciaran Finucane & George M. Savva & Ian H. Robertson & Rose Anne Kenny, 2014. "Sustained Attention and Frailty in the Older Adult Population," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 69(2), pages 147-156.
    10. Sprangers, Mirjam A. G. & Schwartz, Carolyn E., 1999. "Integrating response shift into health-related quality of life research: a theoretical model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(11), pages 1507-1515, June.
    11. Manderbacka, Kristiina & Kåreholt, Ingemar & Martikainen, Pekka & Lundberg, Olle, 2003. "The effect of point of reference on the association between self-rated health and mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(7), pages 1447-1452, April.
    12. Teresa Montoliu & Vanesa Hidalgo & Alicia Salvador, 2020. "Importance of Personality for Objective and Subjective-Physical Health in Older Men and Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-13, November.
    13. Tantina B. Hong & Steven H. Zarit & Bo Malmberg, 2004. "The Role of Health Congruence in Functional Status and Depression," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 59(4), pages 151-157.
    14. Roozbei Hosseini & Karen Kopecky & Kai Zhao, 2022. "The Evolution of Health over the Life Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 45, pages 237-263, July.
    15. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    16. Boardman, Jason D., 2004. "Health pessimism among black and white adults: the role of interpersonal and institutional maltreatment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(12), pages 2523-2533, December.
    17. repec:plo:pone00:0084933 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Spuling, Svenja M. & Wolff, Julia K. & Wurm, Susanne, 2017. "Response shift in self-rated health after serious health events in old age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 85-93.
    19. repec:plo:pmed00:0040297 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Ichida, Yukinobu & Hirai, Hiroshi & Kondo, Katsunori & Kawachi, Ichiro & Takeda, Tokunori & Endo, Hideki, 2013. "Does social participation improve self-rated health in the older population? A quasi-experimental intervention study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 83-90.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Scott, Andrew J., 2023. "The economics of longevity – An introduction," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    2. Georges Steffgen & Philipp E. Sischka & Martha Fernandez de Henestrosa, 2020. "The Quality of Work Index and the Quality of Employment Index: A Multidimensional Approach of Job Quality and Its Links to Well-Being at Work," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-31, October.
    3. Ana Lucia Abeliansky & Holger Strulik, 2023. "Health and aging before and after retirement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2825-2855, October.
    4. Chiara Dal Bianco, 2023. "Disability Insurance and the Effects of Return-to-work Policies," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 49, pages 351-373, July.
    5. Devillanova, Carlo & Raitano, Michele & Struffolino, Emanuela, 2019. "Longitudinal employment trajectories and health in middle life: Insights from linked administrative and survey data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 40, pages 1375-1412.
    6. Datta Gupta, Nabanita & Jürges, Hendrik, 2012. "Do workers underreport morbidity? The accuracy of self-reports of chronic conditions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(9), pages 1589-1594.
    7. Cromwell, Johnathan R. & Harvey, Jean-François, 2025. "A problem half-solved is a problem well-stated: Increasing the rate of innovation through team problem discovery," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(3).
    8. St-Amour, Pascal, 2024. "Valuing life over the life cycle," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    9. Gunasekara, Fiona Imlach & Carter, Kristie & Blakely, Tony, 2012. "Comparing self-rated health and self-assessed change in health in a longitudinal survey: Which is more valid?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 1117-1124.
    10. David Johnston & Carol Propper & Stephen Pudney & Michael Shields, 2014. "Child Mental Health And Educational Attainment: Multiple Observers And The Measurement Error Problem," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 880-900, September.
    11. Abeliansky, Ana Lucia & Erel, Devin & Strulik, Holger, 2019. "Aging in the USA: Similarities and disparities across time and space," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 384, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    12. Tianxu Chen, 2019. "Can Health Savings Account Reduce Health Spending?: Evidence from China," Working papers 2019-08, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    13. Margherita Borella & Francisco Bullano & Mariacristina De Nardi & Benjamin Krueger & Elena Manresa, 2024. "Health Inequality and Health Types," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 097, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    14. Schünemann, Johannes & Strulik, Holger & Trimborn, Timo, 2022. "Optimal demand for medical and long-term care," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    15. Otsu, Yuki & Yuen, C.Y. Kelvin, 2022. "Health, crime, and the labor market: Theory and policy analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    16. Sebastian Kurten & David Winant & Kathleen Beullens, 2021. "Mothers Matter: Using Regression Tree Algorithms to Predict Adolescents’ Sharing of Drunk References on Social Media," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-16, October.
    17. 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.
    18. Lazarevič, Patrick & Brandt, Martina, 2020. "Diverging ideas of health? Comparing the basis of health ratings across gender, age, and country," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    19. Umesh Ghimire, 2020. "The Impact of Health on Wealth: Empirical Evidence," Working papers 2020-19, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    20. Minamo MIKOSHIBA, 2025. "Universal Insurance with In-kind Transfers: The welfare effects of long-term care insurance in Japan," Discussion papers 25030, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:362:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624008955. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.