How Health Conditions Translate into Self Assessments: A Comparative Study of Older Adults across Europe

Melissa Hardy, Pennsylvania State University
Francesco Acciai, Pennsylvania State University

Self assessed health measures are frequently available in large national surveys and provide one method of comparing health status across time and place. These measures have been found to be strongly related to reported symptoms, diagnosed conditions, prospective mortality, and other indicators of health. In this paper, we examine country differences in self-reported health and how illness is translated into respondents’ self assessments using the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We find that country differences persist even when compositional differences in chronic conditions, activity limitations, cognitive function, and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics are controlled. We also find that these country differences are not proportional; rather, they vary across the response set as does the correspondence between self reported health and chronic conditions.