Symptom sensitivity: its social and cultural correlates.

This study summarizes a preliminary analysis of pretest data being gathered in a five-year study of health insurance in Los Angeles by the UCLA School of Public Health. One of the major purposes of the overall study is to examine factors that determine utilization of physicians' services and consumer satisfaction with the care received. In the development of a model to identify the potential major determining factors, it became evident that one of these factors would pertain to the consumer's perception of symptoms and his resulting orientation toward action or inaction. A method for measuring such perception of symptoms, here termed “symptom sensitivity,” is presented, with an exploratory examination of the extent to which this perception is related to sociocultural characteristics.