Abstract
The main aim of this study is to assess, through a wide literature review, whether the concept of “disability,” as variously formulated, can be considered a good foundation for scientific research on happiness and subjective well-being, as well as the effect of some conceptualizations on the understanding of the relationship between happiness and disability. The literature review includes longitudinal population studies, cross-sectional surveys and longitudinal clinical researches. The empirical part of the study, based on the 2013 Italian Health Interview Survey, shows some examples of the impact of different definitions of disability on the subjective well-being variability. The Italian Health Interview Survey is conducted every 5 years and carried out on a sample of about 60,000 households and 162,000 respondents distributed in 1456 municipalities. Some suggestions for future research, based on a vision of the multifaceted nature of disability, are proposed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altman BM (2011) A reply to: the myth and reality of disability prevalence: measuring disability for research and service. Disabil Health J 4:198–199
Andruszkow H et al (2013) Subjective impact of traumatic brain injury on long-term outcome at a minimum of 10 years after trauma—first results of a survey on 368 patients from a single academic trauma center in Germany. Patient Saf Surg 7:32
Anusic A, Yap SCY, Lucas RE (2014) Testing set-point theory in a Swiss national sample: reaction and adaptation to major life events. Soc Indic Res 119:1265–1288
Baumberg B, Jones N, Wass V (2015) Disability prevalence and disability-related employment gaps in the UK 1998–2012: Different trends in different surveys? Soc Sci Med 141:72–81
Bickenbach JE (2013) Disability and the well being agenda. In: Bickenbach JE, Felder F, Schmitz B (eds) Good human life. University Press, Cambridge
Blackaby D, Drinkwater S, Jones M, Murphy P, Phari M, Robinson C (2012) An analysis of subjective wellbeing in wales: evidence from the annual population survey final report. Wales Institute for Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD). Swansea University
Dijkers M (1997) Quality of life after spinal cord injury: a meta analysis of the effects of disablement components. Spinal Cord 35:829–840
Emerson E, Brigham P (2013) Health behaviours and mental health status of parents with intellectual disabilities: cross sectional study. Public Health 127:1111–1116
Emerson E, Kariuki M, Honey A, Llewellyn G (2014) Becoming disabled: the association between disability onset in younger adults and subsequent changes in productive engagement, social support, financial hardship and subjective wellbeing. Disabil Health J 7:448–456
Erosa NA, Berry JW, Elliott TR, Underhill AT, Fine PR (2014) Predicting quality of life 5 years after medical discharge for traumatic spinal cord injury. Br J Health Psychol 19:688–700
Fellinghauer B, Reinhardt JD, Stucki G, Bickenbach J (2012) Explaining the disability paradox: a cross-sectional analysis of the Swiss general population. BMC Public Health 12:65
Freedman VA, Stafford F, Schwarz N, Conrad F, Cornman JC (2012) Disability, participation, and subjective wellbeing among older couples. Soc Sci Med 74:588–596
Grammenos S (ed) (2013) European comparative data on Europe 2020 & people with disabilities final report, Centre for European Social and Economic Policy (CESEP ASBL) on behalf of the Academic Network of European Disability Experts (ANED) December
H’Sien H (2013) Posttraumatic growth and disability: on happiness, positivity, and meaning, dissertation, department of psychology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts
Hannerz H, Mortensen OS, Poulsen OM, Humle F, Pedersen BH, An LL (2012) Time trend analysis of return to work after stroke in Denmark from 1996 to 2006. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 25:200–204
Herman Van Oyen H, Van der Heyden J, Perenboom R, Jagger C (2006) Monitoring population disability: evaluation of a new Global Activity Limitation Indicator. Int J Public Health 51:153–161
Hernandez CL, Elliott TR, Berry JW, Underhill AT, End PR, Lai MHC (2014) Trajectories of life satisfaction after medical discharge for traumatically acquired disability. Rehabil Psychol 59:183–192
Hughes K, Bellis MA, Jones L, Wood S, Bates G, Eckley L et al (2012) Prevalence and risk of violence against adults with disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Lancet 379:1621–1629
Jones L, Bellis MA, Wood S, Hughes K, McCoy E, Eckley L et al (2012) Prevalence and risk of violence against children with disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Lancet 380:899–907
Kariuki M, Honey A, Emerson E, Llewellyn G (2011) Mental health trajectories of young people after disability onset. Disabil Health J 4:91–101
Koch T (2000) The illusion of paradox: commentary on Albrecht, G.L. and Devlieger, P.J. (1998). The disability paradox: high quality of life against all odds. Social Science & Medicine 48, 977–988. Soc Sci Med 50(6):757–759
Krause JS, Bozaard JL (2012) Natural course of life changes after spinal cord injury: a 35-year longitudinal study. Spinal Cord 50:227–231
Linley PA, Joseph S (2004) Positive change following trauma and adversity: a review. J Trauma Stress 17:11–21
Lucas RE (2007) Long-term disability is associated with lasting changes in subjective well-being: evidence from two nationally representative longitudinal studies. J Pers Soc Psychol 92:717–730
MacInnes MD (2011) Altar-bound? The effect of disability on the hazard of entry into a first marriage. Int J Sociol 41:87–103
Madans JH, Loeb M (2013) Methods to improve international comparability of census and survey measures of disability. Disabil Rehabil 35:1070–1073
MDS (2011) Model disability survey. http://www.who.int/disabilities/data/mds.pdf. Accessed 12 Mar 2016
Mont D (2007) Measuring disability prevalence. SP Discussion Paper, no. 0706, World Bank
Mortensen WB, Noreau L, Mille WC (2010) The relationship between and predictors of quality of life after spinal cord injury at 3 and 15 months after discharge. Spinal Cord 48(1):73–79
Ng ECW, Fischer AT (2013) Understanding well-being in multi-levels: a review. Health Cult Soc 5(1):308–322
Office for National Statistics (2012) First Annual ONS Experimental Subjective Well-being Results
Office for National Statistics (2013a) Measuring National Well-being—What matters most to Personal Well-being?
Office for National Statistics (2013b) Measuring National Well-being—Older people and loneliness
Oswald AJ, Powdthavee N (2008) Does happiness adapt? A longitudinal study of disability with implications for economists and judges. IZA Discussion Papers, No. 2208
Post VCM, Van Leeuwen CMC (2012) Psychosocial issues in spinal cord injury: a review. Spinal Cord 50:382–389
Powdthavee N (2009) What happens to people before and after disability? Focusing effects, lead effects, and adaptation in different areas of life. Soc Sci Med 69:1834–1844
Revelle W (2016), Package’psych’, CRAN Repository Publication day 09/17/2016. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/psych/psych.pdf
Rouquette A, Badley EM, Falissard B, Dub T, Leplege A, Coste J (2015) Moderators, mediators, and bidirectional relationships in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework: an empirical investigation using a longitudinal design and structural equation modeling (SEM). Soc Sci Med 135:133–142
Sabariego C, Oberhauser C, Posarac A, Bickenbach J, Kostanjsek N, Chatterji Officer A, Coenen M, Chhan L, Cieza A (2015) Measuring disability: comparing the impact of two data collection approaches on disability rates. Int J Environ Res Public Health 12:10329–10351
Schkade DA, Kahneman D (1998) Does living in California make people happy? A focusing illusion in judgments of life satisfaction. Psychol Sci 9:340–346
Stensman R (1994) Adjustment to traumatic spinal cord injury. A longitudinal study of self-reported quality of life. Paraplegia 32:416–422
Strauss DJ, DeVivo MJ, Paculdo DR, Shavelle RM (2006) Trends in life expectancy after spinal cord injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 87:1079–1085
Uppal S (2006) Impact of the timing, type and severity of disability on the subjective well-being of individuals with disabilities. Soc Sci Med 63:525–539
Van Leeuwen CMC et al (2011) Trajectories in the course of life satisfaction after spinal cord injury: identification and predictors. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 92:207–213
Van Leeuwen CMC, Post MW, Westers P, Van der Woude LH, de Groot S, Sluis T et al (2012a) Relationships between activities, participation, personal factors, mental health, and life satisfaction in persons with spinal cord injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 93:82–89
Van Leeuwen CMC et al (2012b) Life satisfaction in people with spinal cord injury during the first five years after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation. Disabil Rehabil 34(1):76–83
Van Praag BMS, Frijters P, Ferrer-i-Carbonell A (2003) The anatomy of subjective well-being. J Econ Behav Organ 51:29–49
Wasserman D, Asch A (2013) Understanding the relationship between disability and wellbeing. In: Bickenbach JE, Felder F, Schmitz B (eds) Good human life. University Press, Cambridge
WHO-UNESCAP (2008) Training manual on disability statistics. World Health Organization/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, United Nations. http://www.unescap.org/stat/disability/index.asp. Accessed 12 Mar 2016
World Health Organization (1980) International classification of impairments, disabilities and handicap—ICIDH. WHO, Geneva
World Health Organization (2001) International classification of functioning, disability and health—ICF. WHO, Geneva
World Health Organization (2011) World report on disability. WHO, Geneva
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest concerning this article.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Francescutti, C., Battisti, A., Griffo, G. et al. Conceptualization and measurement of disability in studies on subjective well-being: a critical review and evidence from the Italian Health Surveys. Int Rev Econ 64, 179–195 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-017-0268-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-017-0268-5