Purpose Health disparities research seeks to understand and eliminate differences in health based on social status. Self-rated health is often used to document health disparities across racial/ethnic and immigrant groups, yet its validity for such comparative research has not been established. To be useful in disparities research, self-rated health must measure the same construct in all groups, that is, a given level of self-rated health should reflect the same level of mental and physical health in each group. This study asks, Is the relationship between self-rated health and four indicators of health status - body mass index, chronic conditions, functional limitations, and depressive symptoms - similar for adolescents and young adults of different races/ethnicities and immigrant generations? Methods Ordinary least squares regression was used to examine associations of self-rated health with the four indicators of health status both cross-sectionally and longitudinally using four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Results Health indicators explained similar amounts of variance in self-rated health for all racial/ethnic and immigrant generation groups. The cross-sectional association between the health indicators and self-rated health did not vary across groups. The longitudinal association between depressive symptoms and chronic conditions and self-rated health also did not differ across groups. However, an increase in body mass index was associated more negatively with later self-rated health for Asians than for whites or blacks. Conclusions Self-rated health is valid for disparities research in large, population-based surveys of US adolescents and young adults. In many of these surveys self-rated health is the only measure of health. © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.

Race/ethnicity National longitudinal study of adolescent to adult health (Add Health) Immigrant health disparities self-rated health

least square analysis depression longitudinal study Asian regression analysis Caucasian health disparity Health Status Disparities Continental Population Groups ancestry group mental health human immigration Longitudinal Studies Ethnic Groups ethnic group priority journal health status Health Surveys chronic disease ethnology adolescent health Cross-Sectional Studies United States Young Adult cross-sectional study migrant Diagnostic Self Evaluation Black person Adolescent Humans male Emigrants and Immigrants self evaluation female Article adult ethnicity Least-Squares Analysis body mass Body Mass Index Child health survey