Abstract
Youth with disabilities face many challenges in life which are thought to have a negative impact on their well-being. Evidence, however, suggests that individuals differ in their resilience to deal with adverse life-events and protect their well-being. These differences may be explained by an individual’s resources such as education, employment, and social support. Studies on how youth with disabilities perceive their well-being and resources important to their well-being are, however, lacking. In this study we therefore compared education, employment, social support, and well-being between youth with disabilities (n = 120) and their peers (n = 117) in South Africa. In addition, we investigated the relationship between background characteristics, having a disability, access to resources, and well-being. The unemployment rate among youth with disabilities is higher, they are less educated, receive less social support and report poorer states of well-being. Our study showed that having a disability, social support, and employment were associated with the well-being of youth in South Africa. While having a disability predicted well-being in youth, the effect was mediated by employment and social support, indicating that those two resources influence wellbeing through both a direct and buffer effect. Therefore, employment and social support may mitigate the negative consequences of a disability and have a substantial role in improving or maintaining well-being.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bisschop, M. I., Kriegsman, D. M. W., Beekman, A. T. F., & Deeg, D. J. H. (2004). Chronic diseases and depression: the modifying role of psychosocial resources. Social Science & Medicine, 59, 721–733.
Björck-Åkesson, E., Wilder, J., Granlund, M., Pless, M., Simeonsson, R., Adolfsson, M., et al. (2010). The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health and the version for children and youth as a tool in child habilitation/early childhood intervention–feasibility and usefulness as a common language and frame of reference for practice. Disability and Rehabilitation, 32(1), 125–138.
Booth, A., & Ainscow, M. (2002). Index for inclusion: Developing learning and participation in schools. Bristol: Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education.
Broadhead, W. E., Kaplan, B. H., James, S. A., Wagner, E. H., Schoenbach, V. J., Grimson, R., et al. (1983). The epidemiologic evidence for a relationship between social support and health. American Journal of Epidemiology, 117(5), 521–537.
Census 2001 [cited 2011 4 March]. Retrieved from http://www.statssa.gov.za/census01/html/defaul.asp.
Chamberlain, B. O. (2002). Isolation or involvement? The social networks of children with autism included in regular classes. Dissertation of Abstracts International A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 62, 2680.
Cohen, S., & Syme, S. L. (1985). Social support and health. New York: Academic.
Cramm, J. M., Møller, V., & Nieboer, A. P. (2010). Improving subjective well-being of the poor in the Eastern Cape. Journal of Health Psychology, 15(7), 1012–1019.
Cramm, J. M., Nieboer, A. P., Finkenflügel, H. J. M., Lorenzo, T. (2012). Comparison of barriers to employment among youth with and without disabilities in South Africa. WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation. doi:10.3233/WOR-121521
Cramm, J. M., Nieboer, A. P., Finkenflügel, H. J. M., Lorenzo, T. (2013). Disabled youth in South Africa: Barriers to education. International journal on disability and human development, 12(1), 31–35.
de Klerk, H. M., & Ampousah, L. (2003). The physically disabled woman’s experience of self. Disability and Rehabilitation, 25, 1132–1139.
Department for International Development. (2000). Disability, poverty and development. London: DFID.
Devins, D. M., & Binik, Y. M. (1996). Facilitating coping with chronic physical illness. In M. Zeidner & N. S. Endler (Eds.), Handbook of coping: Theory, research, application (pp. 640–696). New York: Wiley.
Dijkers, M. P., Whiteneck, G., & El-Jaroudi, R. (2000). Measures of social outcomes in disability research. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 81, 63–80.
Eide, A. H., & Roysamb, E. (2002). The relationship between level of disability, psychological problems, social activities, and social networks. Rehabilitation Psychology, 47, 165–183.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: the broaden and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–226.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (Biological Sciences), 359, 1367–1377.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Joiner, T. (2002). Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being. Psychological Science, 13, 172–175.
Groce, N. E. (1999). An overview of young people living with disabilities: Their needs and their rights. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund Programme Publications.
Groce, N. E. (2004). Adolescents and youth with disability: issues and challenges. Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, 15(2), 13–32.
Guralnick, M. A. (2001). developmental systems model for early intervention. Infants and Young Children, 14, 1–18.
Hobfoll, S. E., & Vaux, A. (1993). Social support: Social resources and social context. In L. Goldberger, S. Breznitz, et al. (Eds.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects (2nd ed., pp. 685–705). New York: Free Press.
Jang, Y., Haley, W. E., Small, B. J., & Mortimer, J. A. (2002). The role of mastery and social resources in the associations between disability and depression in later life. The Gerontologist, 42(6), 807–813.
Lehto, H., Huotari, A., Herzig, K., Koivumaa-Honkanen, H., Honkalampi, K., Sinikallio, S., et al. (2009). Unemployment and ill health. BMC Public Health, 9, 410.
Lorenzo, T., & Cramm, J. M. (2012). Access to livelihood assets among youth with and without disabilities in South Africa: implications for health professional education. South African Medical Journal, 102(6), 578–581.
Lyons, R. F. (1993). Meaningful activity and disability: capitalizing upon the potential of outreach recreation networks in Canada. Canadian Journal of Rehabilitation, 6, 256–265.
Lyons, R. F., Sullivan, M. J. L., & Ritvo, P. G. (1995). Relationships in chronic illness and disability. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L. A., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803–855.
Maart, S., Eide, A. H., Jelsma, J., Loeb, M. E., & Toni, M. K. (2007). Environmental barriers experienced by urban and rural disabled people in South Africa. Disability & Society, 22(4), 357–369.
Mahoney, J. L., Larson, R. W., & Eccles, J. S. (2005). Organized activities as contexts of development: Extracurricular activities, after-school and community programs. Mahwah: Erlbaum.
Meltzer, H., Bebbington, P., Brugha, T., Jenkins, R., McManus, S., & Stansfeld, S. (2009). Job insecurity, socioeconomic circumstances and depression. Psychological Medicine, 11, 1–7.
Nattrass, N. (2006). Disability and welfare in South Africa’s era of unemployment and AIDS. Cape Town: Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town.
Nieboer, A., & Lindenberg, S. (2002). Substitution, buffers and subjective well-being: A hierarchical approach. In E. Gullone & R. A. Cummins (Eds.), The universality of subjective well-being indicators (pp. 175–189). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Nieboer, A., Lindenberg, S., Boomsma, A., & Van Bruggen, A. C. (2005). Dimensions of well being and their measurement: the SPF-IL scale. Social Indicators Research, 73, 313–353.
Office of the Deputy President. (1997). Integrated national disability strategy. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
Parnes, P., Cameron, D., Christie, N., Cockburn, L., Hashemi, G., & Yoshid, K. (2009). Disability in low income countries: issues and implications. Disability and Rehabilitation, 31, 1170–1180.
Simeonsson, R. J., Sauer-Lee, A., Granlund, M., & Björck-Åkesson, E. (2010). Developmental and health assessment in rehabilitation with the international classification of functioning, disability and health for children and youth. In E. Mpofu & T. Oakland (Eds.), Rehabilitation and health assessment: Applying ICF guidelines (pp. 27–46). New York: Springer.
Steel, R. D., Torrie, J. H., & Dickey, T. A. (1997). Principles and practice of statistics: A biomedical approach (pp. 297–299). USA: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-07-061028-2.
Thoits, P. A. (1995). Stress, coping, and social support processes: where are we? What next? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35, 53–79
van Campen, C., & Cardol, M. (2009). When work and satisfaction with life do not go hand in hand: health barriers and personal resources in the participation of people with chronic physical disabilities. Social Science & Medicine, 69, 56–60.
World Health Organization. (2001). International classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF). Geneva: World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2007). International classification of function, disability, and health: Children and youth version (ICF-CY). Geneva: World Health Organization.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cramm, J.M., Lorenzo, T. & Nieboer, A.P. Comparing Education, Employment, Social Support and Well-being among Youth with Disabilities and Their Peers in South Africa. Applied Research Quality Life 9, 517–524 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-013-9247-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-013-9247-5