Testing the Buffering Effect of Social Relationships in a Prospective Study of Disability Onset

Social support has been proposed to be a protective factor that buffers the losses that result from the experience of negative life events. The present study uses data from a large-scale Australian panel study (the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey) to examine how life satisfaction changes following the onset of a disabling condition and then to test whether preevent or postevent social support moderates reactions to this event. Results show that the onset of a disabling condition is associated with a large decline in life satisfaction, but these changes are not moderated by preevent social support. Postevent social support does moderate change in response to the onset of a disability, but ambiguities in the interpretation of this association must be considered.