Table 5 Description of the constructed variables
Variable | Description | Response levels |
|---|---|---|
VAS_OWN | Subjective feeling of own health today as measured by a visual analogue scale. | Number between 0 and 100, divided by 100 in the analysis to arrive at values between 0 and 1. |
VAS_OTHER | The respondents’ estimation of their contemporaries’ health status (i.e., other people of their age) as measured by a VAS. | Number between 0 and 100, divided by 100 in the analysis to arrive at values between 0 and 1. |
SOC_COMP | Ordinal question asking whether the respondent felt their health was better than, worse than or the same as their contemporaries’ health. | Better/Worse/Same |
BETTER_HEALTH | Dummy variable indicating whether respondent felt their health was better than their contemporaries’ health or not. | 1 (better health) or 0 (the same or worse health) |
MIS_INDEX | Summation of the levels of each dimension, with a higher number representing a worse health state. | Number between 5 and 25 |