TABLE 1—
Respondents’ Self-Rated Health Reported at the Initial Survey Interview and Odds Ratios for Reporting Poor Health 1 Year Later, by Socioeconomic Characteristics: PSID, United States, 1990, and BHPS, United Kingdom, 1991
| 1990 PSID (N = 4042) | 1991 BHPS (N = 4116) | |||
| Socioeconomic Characteristics | % (SE) | OR (95% CI)a | % (SE) | OR (95% CI)a |
| Self-rated health (PSID rating/BHPS rating) | ||||
| Excellent/excellent | 30.23 (1.11) | 33.46 (0.77) | ||
| Very good/good | 37.16 (0.97) | 45.97 (0.76) | ||
| Good/fair | 25.97 (1.04) | 14.75 (0.56) | ||
| Fair/poor | 5.66 (0.51) | 4.48 (0.29) | ||
| Poor/very poor | 0.99 (0.18) | 1.34 (0.18) | ||
| Employment status | ||||
| Employed | 92.62 (0.60) | 1.00 (reference) | 80.57 (0.69) | 1.00 (reference) |
| Unemployed | 2.87 (0.30) | 1.16 (0.69, 1.96) | 5.08 (0.38) | 1.49 (0.96, 2.32) |
| Economically inactiveb | 4.51 (0.44) | 1.31 (0.85, 2.03) | 14.35 (0.56) | 1.73 (1.25, 2.41) |
| Low incomec | 20.00 (1.19) | 1.51 (1.21, 1.89) | 20.00 (0.86) | 1.75 (1.34, 2.30) |
| Routine or semiroutine occupationd | 28.05 (1.44) | 1.73 (1.38, 2.17) | 29.09 (0.95) | 1.84 (1.44, 2.34) |
Note. PSID = Panel Study of Income Dynamics; BHPS = British Household Panel Survey, OR = odds ratio, CI = confidence interval.
aFor reporting poor health 1 year later.
bEconomically inactive includes those persons who are early retirees, permanently or temporarily disabled, involved in family care or keeping house, students, involved in workfare or government training schemes, in prison, or involved in other nonwork activities.
cLow income was defined as those persons in the bottom 20% of adjusted household income. Adjusted incomes were derived by dividing household income by the square root of household size.
dRoutine and semiroutine occupations are regulated by short-term labor contracts, exchange wages for labor, are highly unsupervised, and have little or no need for employee discretion.