The Association of Roles and Attitudes with Disability among Midlife Women and Men

The association among roles, attitudes, and disability has been studied separately for men and women as factors that may link impairment and disability. The aim is to assess the probable influence on disability of social roles and attitudes regarding pain, tiredness, and self-esteem from work, and discern if there are gender differences in the factors associated with disability. Although prior studies have examined some of these variables, none has examined them as a set. Self-reports of disability are the dependent measure; severity of impairment, income, race, and education also are included as control variables. The data from 3,2.02 men and 2,317 women age 35-64 are analyzed using logit regression. Results reveal subtle gender differences in the role variables associated with disability. Also noteworthy are the associations of pain. fatigue, and work attitudes with disability. Overall, these findings buttress the paradigm in which disability is viewed as responsive to individual and societal circumstances.