|
KMID : 0904520190500010111
|
|
Health and Medical Sociology
2019 Volume.50 No. 1 p.111 ~ p.132
|
|
|
A Comparison between Korea and the US in Self-Rated Health and Its Related Factors
|
|
Kang Eun-Jeong
Han Ludmila
|
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
|
Korea is higher than US in the proportion of negative ratings in self-rated health (SRH), while the life expectancy of Korea is longer than that of US. We do not fully understand why these discrepancies in subjective health and objective health exist. This study aimed to compare the factors related to SRH between Korea and the US. We used 2016 data of the Korea National Health and the Nutrition Examination Survey and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Self-rated health was recoded into three categories: very good or good, fair, bad or very bad. Several variables of socioeconomic characteristics and health condition that were related to SRH and their interaction variables with country variable were included in the ordered regression. Marginal effects were estimated by country for those factors whose interaction effect were statistically significant. Results showed that Koreans tended to report worse SRH than Americans. And then we also found that sex, education, smoking status, activity limitation, and several chronic conditions were differently associated with SRH by country. The fact that Koreans rate their health more negatively than Americans do when there is activity limitation or a chronic disease may be related to worse subjective 132 보건과 사회과학 제 집 50 (2019) health status of Koreans than Americans. We also found that the meaning of ‘botong’ in Korean and ‘fair’ in English may be different. Further studies are needed to understand the meanings of SRH and response styles of the two countries.
|
|
|
KEYWORD
|
|
|
self-rated health, cultural difference, response style
|
|
|
FullTexts / Linksout information
|
|
|
|
|
|
Listed journal information
|
|
|