The affective aspect of subjective well-being among Chinese people with and without spinal cord injuries

Purpose. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) To examine differences in affective aspects of subjective well-being between people with and without spinal cord injuries (SCI), and (b) to explore relationships among perceived health, social support, self-efficacy beliefs, and the affective aspect of subjective well-being in these groups.

Method. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in China. A total of 119 out-patients with SCI and 109 college students without a disability participated in the study. Main outcome measures included: (a) The Index of Psychological Well-Being, (b) the Self-Rated Health Status Scale, (c) the Self-Efficacy Scale, and (d) the Social Support Scale.

Results. A multiple analysis of the variance indicated that participants with SCI had lower affective subjective well-being, social support, social self-efficacy beliefs, and poor health compared to participants without SCI F (5, 211) = 22.37, p < 0.001]. A hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis was conducted separately for each SCI and non-SCI group. Results indicated that the combination of perceived health, social support, and social self-efficacy accounted for 25% of the variance in affective subjective well-being F (8, 104) = 4.22, p < 0.001] among participants with SCI. For participants without SCI, social support and social self-efficacy were related to the affective subjective well-being F (7, 97) = 4.77, p < 0.001]. They accounted for 27% of the variance in affective subjective well-being.

Conclusions. People with SCI may have lower affective subjective well-being than those without SCI, and the perceptions of one's health, social skills, and social support may play important roles in achieving affective subjective well-being in people with SCI.