What makes them feel healthier? the correlates of self-perceived health among older adults in India

Type Working Paper - MPRA Paper No. 40541
Title What makes them feel healthier? the correlates of self-perceived health among older adults in India
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2010
URL http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/40541/1/MPRA_paper_40541.pdf
Abstract
The physical, the mental and the social well-being constitute the health of an individual and a population in general. For populations passing through demographic transition, the life expectancies at various ages show an increasing trend over time. To ensure healthy ageing, in such populations, the later part of the life span of an individual should be free from chronic diseases and impairments. In this context, the prevailing health scenario is best measured in terms of the disease free life expectancies and the disability free life expectancies. At the individual level, the number of diseases and the number of impairments one suffers from give an account of his/her health. Besides these objective measures of health, the self-perceived health (also called the self-reported health) has received due attention in recent literature. This is due to its strong association with the life expectancy on one hand and with the future state of health on another. Moreover, including self-perceived health (SPH) in accounting for an individual’s health is akin to giving him/her a say in his/her assessment of own health. Furthermore, it is opined that SPH captures those hidden aspects of health that go unnoticed otherwise. The present study investigates the socioeconomic factors associates with the SPH for the older adults in India. Data pertaining to two sample surveys with a country-wide coverage (the 52nd and the 60th round of the National Sample Survey) of the older adults have been made use of for this purpose. SPH is usually measured on a 3-5 point ordinal scale in a relative perspective (comparing the present state of health with the state of health in an earlier reference period) or in a global perspective (absolute statement about the present state of health).

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