Difference in subjective well-being between people with and without a chronic illness or impairment: a study on the moderating role of paid and voluntary work

Although people with an impairment or chronic illness tend to report a lower quality of life than people without one, there are indications that impairment or chronic illness is not intrinsically linked with a poor quality of life or subjective well-being. Based on a social-relational understanding of disability, this study researches the social embeddedness of the relationship between being chronically ill or impaired and subjective well-being by examining its dependence on employment position and voluntary work. We focus on employment and voluntary work because of their key roles in constituting social membership in contemporary European societies. By means of multilevel regression techniques, data of the European Quality of Life Survey (2011-2012) of people between 25 and 64 years old living in the 28 EU-member countries are analysed. The survey allows to identify people with longstanding physical or mental health problems or impairments. Subjective well-being is measured by the World Health Organization Five Well-Being Index. The analyses show that people with a chronic illness or impairment generally have a worse well-being than people without one. However, the strength of the negative relationship seems dependent on oneU+2019s employment position, as we observe that having a chronic illness or impairment is stronger negatively associated with subjective well-being for people who are unemployment or non-active on the labor market. For people who do voluntary work this negative effect of being out of the labor market is partly diminished. We additionally observe that the negative effect of being out of the labor market on the association between being chronically ill or impaired and subjective well-being varies cross-nationally. These findings indicate the existence of a socially shaped relationship between being chronically ill or impaired and subjective well-being as it intersects with oneU+2019s employment position voluntary work activities. They suggest that a chronic illness or impairment might be more disabling for the subjective well-being when people are not in paid labor or able to do voluntary work. The article indicates the importance of being able to do paid or voluntary work for the subjective well-being of people with a chronic illness or impairment.