{"id":1944,"date":"2020-03-25T11:43:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T10:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/?p=1944"},"modified":"2020-03-25T16:42:15","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T15:42:15","slug":"disability-onset-what-are-the-effects-on-individual-wellbeing-over-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/disability-onset-what-are-the-effects-on-individual-wellbeing-over-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Disability onset: what are the effects on individual wellbeing over time?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In our latest post, John Poole introduces\nhis doctoral research on the impact of disability onset on individual wellbeing\nin the UK.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

How satisfied do you feel with life on a scale of 0-10, all things considered? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in December 2019<\/a>, if you thought of a number greater than 7.90, you are happier than the average UK resident. For disabled people, however, the average self-reported level of life satisfaction is only 6.68 out of 10. Moreover, compared to non-disabled people, they are less likely to feel that life is worthwhile and live with higher levels of anxiety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wellbeing gaps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Whilst wellbeing overall has grown in\nthe last few years, a concern is that a \u2018disability wellbeing gap\u2019 persists. News\nreports frequently highlight various pay gaps that exist within society<\/a>\nbut surprisingly little attention is paid to \u201cwellbeing gaps\u201d. Some academics argue\nthat estimating these gaps is just as important as measuring more commonplace\nvariables found in economics literature such as income, consumption, employment\nor economic growth. A well-known example to support this is the Easterlin\nParadox (Easterlin, 1995) \u2013 the finding that increases in a country\u2019s national\nincome do not translate into improved wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ONS data perhaps contradicts the\n\u201chedonic treadmill\u201d (Brickman & Campbell, 1971), the idea that no matter\nwhat positive or negative life events beset us, we are forever destined to\nreturn to a set level of overall life satisfaction. This concept has found a\nlot of support within psychological literature (e.g Frederick & Loewenstein,\n1999; Diener et al., 1999). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, traditional economics used\nto assume that life events such as disability onset exhibited permanent effects\nupon happiness by permanently lowering income and consumption opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term disability onset refers to\nworking-age people who were not already disabled, i.e. they didn\u2019t have a\ndisability at birth or in earlier life, who have experienced the onset of\ndisability, most likely for the first time, possibly from an accident or from a\ndegenerative disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economics researchers in the last\ndecade or so have taken a growing interest in wellbeing and adaptation (e.g.\nClark et al. 2008). Helping to close this gap between the two social sciences\nis a big motivator of my PhD thesis in Economics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Council\n(ESRC)<\/a> and Disability Rights UK<\/a>,\nI intend to apply statistical models to UK household survey data to measure the\neffects of disability onset upon subjective wellbeing, not only at onset, but\nover the post-onset period too, observing how much adaptation occurs, if any. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disability Rights UK promote career\nopportunities and independent living for disabled people as well as influencing\npublic attitudes and behaviour towards disability. My thesis will provide Disability\nRights UK with up-to-date nationally representative evidence on how disability\nonset among working-aged people affects wellbeing for different groups of\npeople and their families so that they can inform public policy with regards to\nwhere to most effectively allocate funding and support services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding Society<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A major strength of this study is access to a rich source of panel data called Understanding Society<\/a><\/em>, which surveyed the same set of individuals annually between 2011 and 2018. It includes data on personal characteristics, family composition, consumption habits, use of leisure time, financial situation, health, and more importantly, on wellbeing and disability status. Due to the longitudinal nature of the data, I can observe the above variables prior to disability onset, at onset and post-onset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This thesis will allow me to ask\nvarious questions: does wellbeing eventually revert to initial levels after\ndisability onset, and if so, by how much? Does the level of adaptation depend\non age, race, gender, marital status, education level, income or persistence\nand severity of the disability? How much of the change in wellbeing is due to\nthe potential consequences of disability onset, such as changes in income,\nconsumption or household composition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, I want to ask the question\nof how onset affects the wellbeing of spouses and children of disabled people. Economic\nliterature has associated disability onset with lower household incomes (e.g.\nStephens, 2001; Singleton, 2012) and hence, increased probability of financial\ndifficulties and material deprivation. It has also been linked with strained\nfamily relationships which can sometimes lead to separation and divorce\n(Singleton, 2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, exploring the effect on a child\u2019s wellbeing when their parent experiences disability will break new ground as this relationship has not been measured before, to my knowledge, within economics literature. Understanding Society <\/em>includes data concerning the child\u2019s home life and school life, such as their academic progress, whether they are bullied, are disruptive in class, get on with their siblings, partake in hobbies, receive help at home with emotional or school issues and whether they care for a parent. Hence, there are many variables from which to attempt to estimate what makes a child happy and how this is affected by disability onset in a parent. I hope my thesis will shine a light on the experience of family members of the disabled, whose wellbeing may otherwise be overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have completed an MSc in Economics\nat Swansea University, an MRes here at Cardiff, and have just started to\nundertake the research phase of the PhD, which I aim to complete in March 2022.\nI look forward to sharing and discussing my findings with Disability Rights UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would invite anyone interested in my\nresearch to contact me<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project is supervised by Professors\nMelanie Jones, Victoria Wass and Dr Ezgi Kaya.  Professor\nJones\u2019 work on disability and life satisfaction<\/a>\npreceded this project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John\nPoole<\/strong><\/a> is a doctoral student at Cardiff Business\nSchool. His PhD is ESRC-funded and in collaboration with Disability Rights UK,\nhe is exploring the impact of disability onset on individual wellbeing in the\nUK.<\/strong>
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Sources<\/h5>\n\n\n\n