Examining Reporting Heterogeneity in Parent-Reported Measures of Health Using Anchoring Vignettes

Abstract:     
Much health inequalities research, particularly in relation to children, relies on subjective measures of health. The use of such measures has been criticized because the response categories may be interpreted by different socioeconomic groups in different ways. This study employs data from a representative online panel from the Netherlands to examine whether parents from different socioeconomic backgrounds differ systematically in how they rate their child's respiratory health using anchoring vignettes. This study finds no evidence that Dutch parents from different socioeconomic backgrounds differ in how they rate their child's respiratory health.

Keywords: reporting heterogeneity, child health, anchoring vignettes

JEL Classification: I10, I12, I14

working papers series