The first learning objective is to show that SRH has long been a focus of interdisciplinary research on social and psychological factors in health. The first study on self-rated health and mortality appeared in 1982, but there were decades of study before that, showing that individuals' ratings did not always agree with other, more objective sources of information about their health. Since 1982, more than 50 studies from around the world have been published that tested the association between self-rated health and mortality. In the great majority of these studies a significant association emerged, even in multivariate analyses.

The new study reported here uses US national data to test the association between self-rated health and two endpoints: mortality and ADL/IADL disability. The finding suggest new directions for future research.