Chapter 11: Skills and health

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Overview and highlights

This chapter examines the relationship between skills measured in ALL and various aspects of individual health. Two latent class analyses are performed to identify groups of individuals sharing response tendencies to a set of 13 health-related background questions. The first analysis identifies four classes of individuals based upon questions related to general health status, as follows: excellent health, good health, fair health and poor health. The second analysis identifies four classes of individuals based upon questions related to their health status at work, as follows: no work-related limitations, physically limited at work, emotionally limited at work and physically and emotionally limited at work. These analyses are then used to explore the relationship between skills measured in ALL and health status.

The results of these analyses are as follows:

The findings indicate interesting similarities. First, the relative proportions of the four classes on both the general and work-related health status classifications are rather comparable across countries. Second, the pattern of average literacy and numeracy scores by health classes in surveyed countries is also similar.

The respondents who answered health related questions in a way that led to their being classified as healthy not only represent the largest percentage of adults but are also the ones with noticeably higher average literacy and numeracy scores compared to the least healthy group of adults — those most likely to report experiencing emotional and physical adversities limiting their activities and capping their accomplishments.

The analysis of general health status indicates that two identified classes of adults – comprising 20 and 52 per cent respectively – are very satisfied with their lives. Members of these groups tend to state that health does not impede their physical or social activities. The difference between the two groups lies in their assessment of their overall health. The smaller group of 20 per cent tends to evaluate both their health and emotional status using the extreme positive categories, whereas the larger group reports their physical and mental well being in more moderate terms.

Both the general and work-related health status analyses identified relatively small groups of adults who report that they are adversely affected by both physical and emotional problems. These groups have significantly lower average scores than the other groups on the literacy and numeracy scales.

While this chapter provides only a first look at the data from ALL relating to health status and literacy, it does support the growing recognition that skills and health status are related. It is not too surprising that as technology continues to evolve and becomes more integrated into all aspects of our lives, modern health care systems are increasingly being characterized by their complexity and sophistication (Bernhardt, Brownfield and Parker, 2005). This increase in complexity and sophistication comes at a time when some believe that individuals are expected to assume more responsibility for the management of their health and well being, thereby placing an even greater emphasis on the importance of literacy and numeracy skills. If true, how will this emerging trend impact current disparities in health outcomes noted in recent research?