Self-rated health among US adolescents

Purpose: This article investigates the meaning of subjective health assessments for younger respondents by examining the temporal stability of self-rated health (SRH) among adolescents. Two competing understandings of SRH are tested: SRH as a spontaneous health assessment or as an enduring self-concept. Methods: Using data from two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 13,511), an intra-class correlation coefficient and a weighted Kappa estimate are calculated to assess the test-retest reliability for SRH. Self-rated health (T2) is then modeled as a function of SRH (T1), physical health (T1), and mental health (T1), and changes in physical and mental health (T2-T1). Results: SRH is found to be moderately stable over repeated observations (K = .40; rho = .55) among adolescents. Findings front multivariate analyses suggest that SRH (T2) is largely determined by SRH (T1) and less so by changes in physical or psychological health status (T2-T1). Conclusions: SRH among adolescents is in part a spontaneous health assessment but it is best understood as an enduring self-concept. (c) 2006 Society for Adolescent Medicine. All rights reserved.