Is health literacy an example of construct proliferation? A conceptual and empirical evaluation of its redundancy with general cognitive ability

Manifestations of intelligence: Expanding the measurement space to reconsider specific cognitive abilities

“…A simple example of the failure to do this can be seen in the health fields. "Health literacy" is currently enjoying a period of immense popularity, yet its definition, operationalization, and empirical associations with a wide array of outcomes are virtually identical to 'g' (Reeve & Basalik, 2013).…”

Lower verbal intelligence is associated with diabetic complications and slower walking speed in people with Type 2 diabetes: the Maastricht Study

“…Verbal intelligence has been associated in previous studies with health knowledge and healthcare compliance ; however, these studies were not performed in populations with diabetes. One study examined the association between verbal intelligence and severe hypoglycaemia, but no significant association was found .…”

Genetic Contributions To Health Literacy

“…A number of studies have reported phenotypic associations between performance on tests of health literacy and cognitive function. [31][32][33][34] Due to the strength of these reported associations, some researchers 33,34 have proposed that health literacy and cognitive function are not separate constructs, and are instead, assessing to a substantial extent the same underlying ability. To investigate this overlap, Reeve and Basalik 34 entered three health literacy tests and six cognitive tests into an exploratory factor analysis.…”

“…No unique health literacy factor emerged, and in fact, the three health literacy tests each loaded on different factors. 34 The authors concluded that there is very little evidence that health literacy is unique from cognitive function. 34 The current study found that the genetic variants associated with cognitive function make significant contributions to performance on tests of health literacy, providing additional evidence that health literacy and cognitive function are intrinsically related and that they might, in part, be associated with the same underlying construct.…”

“…[27][28][29][30] Performance on tests of health literacy and cognitive function are moderately to highly correlated. [31][32][33][34] Murray et al 32 found that the correlations between general cognitive ability and three tests of health literacy, tested in older adulthood, ranged from 0.35 to 0.53 (p < .001). Given these correlations, researchers have sought to determine whether the relationship between health literacy and health remained when also accounting for cognitive function.…”