S. V. Subramanian|Malavika A. Subramanyam|Sakthivel Selvaraj|Ichiro Kawachi
Are self-reports of health and morbidities in developing countries misleading? Evidence from India
Harvard University|Harvard University|Public Health Foundation of India|Harvard University
selfreported measures poor health morbidities developing countries tend viewed considerable skepticism examination social gradient selfreported health morbidity measures provides useful test validity selfreports poor health morbidities prevailing view part influenced amartya sen socially disadvantaged individuals fail perceive report presence illness healthdeficits individuals assessment health directly contingent social experience study tested whether association selfreported poor healthmorbidities socioeconomic status ses india follows expected direction crosssectional logistic regression analyses carried nationally representative populationbased sample 1998 1999 indian national family health survey infhs 19951996 2004 indian national sample survey inss four binary outcomes analyzed selfreported morbidity selfreported sickness last 15 days selfreported sickness past year poor selfrated health separate adjusted models individuals education reported higher levels selfreported selfreported sickness last 15 days selfreported sickness last year poor selfrated health compared education contrary prevailing thesis find use selfrated illhealth face validity assessed via relationship ses less dismissive pessimistic view health data obtained selfreports seems warranted