The relationship between subjective socioeconomic status and health in adults with and without intellectual disability.
Martin McMahon, Chris Hatton, Claire Hardy and 1 others
PMID 36054256WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with intellectual disability rated their social position lower (median rung 4 vs 6).
Higher ladder scores were associated with better self-rated health only in proxy-reported participants. Employment, not ladder scores, was associated with better health-related quality of life in both intellectual disability groups.
Key findings
01Median social ladder scores were 6 for the general population, 4 for the self-reported intellectual disability group and 3 for the proxy-reported intellectual disability group.
02Higher social ladder scores were associated with better self-rated health in the general population and the proxy-reported intellectual disability group, but not in the self-reported intellectual disability group.
03Employment was associated with higher health-related quality of life index values in both the self-reported and proxy-reported intellectual disability groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The survey cannot show whether employment improves health or whether healthier people are more likely to be employed. Only 85 adults with intellectual disability self-reported, so results for that group are limited. The general population survey had a 30.2% response rate, and many respondents were retired. The intellectual disability sample included only adults known to Jersey services, so adults with intellectual disability not known to services were not represented. The general population and intellectual disability samples were recruited in different ways, which may affect comparisons. Proxy respondents rated the social ladder for 132 participants, and the paper says proxy use of this subjective measure is of questionable utility. The social ladder measure's psychometric properties have not been examined in people with intellectual disability. Objective socioeconomic indicators were recoded into binary variables because of low variation and non-normal distribution, which may hide differences.
Declared interests
The material in this study is based upon work supported by the Government of Jersey Health and Community Services and Les Amis Limited Registered Charity Jersey. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that raising subjective social status or obtaining employment will improve health. The survey cannot separate cause and effect, the self-reported intellectual disability group had 85 participants, and the paper says the social ladder measure has not been tested for reliability and validity in this population.