Justification bias in self-reported disability: New evidence from panel data

Abstract

The relationship between health and work is frequently investigated using self-assessments of disability from social surveys. The complication is that respondents may overstate their level of disability to justify non-employment and welfare receipt. This study provides new evidence on the existence and magnitude of justification bias by exploiting a novel feature of a large longitudinal survey: each wave respondents are asked identical disability questions twice; near the beginning and end of the face-to-face interview. Prior to answering the second disability question, respondents are asked a series of questions that increase the salience of their employment and welfare circumstances. Justification bias is identified by comparing the variation between the two measures within-individuals over time, with the variation in employment status over time. Results indicate substantial and statistically significant justification bias; especially for men and women who receive disability pensions.

Gender differences in the longitudinal association between obesity, and disability with workplace absenteeism in the Australian working population

“…Self-reported bias is high among overweight and obese adults, as they tend to overestimate their height and underestimate their weight [41,42]. Similarly, there might be justification bias in case of self-reported disability as individuals tended to over-report their disability level as a result of the financial benefits attached to that classification [43]. The authors call for a well-designed cohort study that can draw causal inferences on the association between obesity, disability, and absenteeism.…”

Post-treatment work patterns amongst survivors of lymphoma treated with high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem-cell transplantation

“…If anything, we expect work ability to be under-reported for respondents outside the labour force, due to self-justification bias, i.e. they under-report their work ability to justify their exclusion [12]. Thus, we consider the gap between work ability and employment a lower bound.…”

Ageing Workforces, Ill‐health and Multi‐state Labour Market Transitions*

“…Thirdly, health problems can also be systematically overstated as a means of obtaining social security benefits such as disability benefits (Kerkhofs and Lindeboom, 1995) or simply to justify being outside the labour market (justification bias; Black et al . 2017). All these indicate potential endogeneity and/or mis‐measurement of the health status covariate included in equation (1).…”

“…13 13 Although this is arguably a more accurate measure of health than the general SAH variable, a recent paper by Black et al . (2017) finds evidence of justification bias among HILDA respondents answering questions on disability and long‐term health conditions. More specifically, non‐employed respondents and disability recipients, especially among male individuals, appear to overstate their level of disability.…”