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Positive Self-rated Health

Indicator #10: Positive Self-rated Health

Indicator 10: Percentage of BC students in grades 7–12 who report good or excellent self-rated health.

 

Jump to Figure Notes and Sources

 

Key Messages

  • Among youth—as with adults—good health is not limited to physical health status, but also includes personal, socio-environmental, and behavioural factors. Self-rated health may be most useful as a measure of the overall health and well-being of children and youth, with good evidence supporting it as an indicator of healthy behaviours, and psychological and emotional well-being.1,2
  • Self-rated health and healthy behaviours, rather than the presence of disease, are important measures of health.3 Self-rated health is strongly correlated with quality of life indicators, healthy behaviours, and a sense of self in populations of youth and adults, and as such, can be used to monitor quality of life among various population groups.2
  • As shown in Figures 10.1 to 10.3, most youth rate themselves as having good or excellent health. There is about a 5 per cent difference between males and females, with males being more likely to report having good or excellent health.

 

Figure Notes and Sources

Figure 10.1

Notes: "Positive self-rated health" means the student reported his/her own health to be either "good" or "excellent". The differences between 2003 and 2008 and between 2008 and 2013 were statistically significant for all groups. The difference between sexes was statistically significant for all years. The difference between 2003 and 2013 was statistically significant for females only.

Data source: McCreary Centre Society, BC Adolescent Health Survey, 2003, 2008, 2013. Prepared by the Surveillance and Epidemiology Team, BC Office of the Provincial Health Officer, 2016.
 

Figure 10.2

Notes: "Positive self-rated health" means the student reported his/her own health to be either "good" or "excellent." Health authority is based on the location of the school.

Data source: McCreary Centre Society, BC Adolescent Health Survey, 2013. Prepared by the Surveillance and Epidemiology Team, BC Office of the Provincial Health Officer, 2016.
 

Figure 10.3

Notes: "Positive self-rated health" means the student reported his/her own health to be either "good" or "excellent". Health service delivery area is based on the location of the school.

Data source: McCreary Centre Society, BC Adolescent Health Survey, 2013. Prepared by the Surveillance and Epidemiology Team, BC Office of the Provincial Health Officer, 2016.

 

References

  1. Goodwin DK, Knol LL, Eddy JM, Fitzhugh EC, Kendrick OW, Donahue RE. The relationship between self-rated health status and the overall quality of dietary intake of US adolescents. J Am Diet Assoc. 2006 Sep;106(9):1450-3.
  2. Vingilis ER, Wade TJ, Seeley JS. Predictors of adolescent self-rated health. Analysis of the National Population Health Survey. Can J Public Health. 2002 May-Jun;93(3):193-7.
  3. Burstrom B, Fredlund P. Self rated health: is it as good a predictor of subsequent mortality among adults in lower as well as in higher social classes? J Epidemiol Community Health. 2001 Nov;55(11):836-40.