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Health Divide: Economic and Demographic Factors Associated with Self-Reported Health Among Older Malaysians

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Abstract

Data from the 2004 Survey of Economic and Financial Aspects of Aging in Malaysia were analyzed to determine factors associated with self-reported health status among older Malaysians. Odds of self-reporting health as bad versus moderate or good were higher for respondents who were in lower income quintiles, who perceived their financial situation as bad, who were older and who were not married. Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Bumiputra ethnic groups had lower odds of perceiving their health to be bad as compared with those in other ethnic groups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Resource Management and Consumer Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Sharifah Azizah Haron & Jariah Masud

  2. Personal Financial Planning Department, University of Missouri-Columbia, 239 Stanley Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Deanna L. Sharpe

  3. Consumer Sciences Department, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    Mohamed Abdel-Ghany

Authors
  1. Sharifah Azizah Haron
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  2. Deanna L. Sharpe
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  3. Jariah Masud
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  4. Mohamed Abdel-Ghany
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Correspondence to Deanna L. Sharpe.

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Haron, S.A., Sharpe, D.L., Masud, J. et al. Health Divide: Economic and Demographic Factors Associated with Self-Reported Health Among Older Malaysians. J Fam Econ Iss 31, 328–337 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-010-9207-2

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