359 Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development Vol. 39 No. 3, May/June 2002 Pages 359–366 Life satisfaction following spinal cord and traumatic brain injury: A comparative study Bret L. Hicken, MA; John David Putzke, PhD; Tom Novack, PhD; Mark Sherer, PhD; J. Scott Richards, PhD Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL Abstract—The current study was designed to examine the pre- dictive validity of several factors that are common to spinal cord injury (SCI) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) populations to overall life satisfaction. We examined several demographic and functional predictors (1) within each group separately and (2) using both groups while controlling for unique predictors within groups. Participants included 190 and 57 individuals with SCI and TBI, respectively. To minimize the influence of injury duration, we assessed life satisfaction at 1-year postin- jury in both groups. Functional disability (Functional Impair- ment Measure [FIM]) was the only common predictor within groups. For the TBI group, marital status was also a significant predictor of life satisfaction. None of the other predictors examined was significant among the SCI group. After func- tional disability and marital status were controlled, overall life satisfaction did not differ between groups. Total explained variance in life satisfaction was low in both groups, 9% and 25% in the SCI and TBI groups, respectively. Future directions are discussed. This material is based on work supported by the University of Alabama at Birmingham Model Spinal Cord Injury System of Care grant (H133N50009) from the National Institute on Disabil- ity and Rehabilitation Research, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, Department of Education, Washington, DC; the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research Traumatic Brain Injury Model System Project at Uni- versity of Alabama at Birmingham (H133A980010); Mississippi Methodist Rehabilitation Center (H133A980035); National Insti- tutes of Health; National Research Service Award T32 HD07420- 10; and National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research. Data used were derived from the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center. Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to J. Scott Rich- ards, PhD, Spain Rehabilitation Center, 1717 6th Avenue South, Room 529, Birmingham, AL 35233-7330; 205-934-3450, fax: 205- 975-4691, email: Richards@sun.rehabm.uab.edu. Key words: head injury, life satisfaction, pain, quality of life, spinal cord injury. INTRODUCTION Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) affect over two million people in the United States each year [1,2]. Unfortunately, TBI and SCI may often result in changes in physical, social, cognitive, or emo- tional functioning, which taken together may significantly impact an individual’s self-perception or subjective well- being (SWB). SWB is receiving increased attention as an important long-term outcome following severe injury. As opposed to objective measures, which often rely on physician- or caregiver-based ratings, SWB attempts to capture the individual’s viewpoint. The construct is thought to con- tain both an emotional (i.e., positive and negative affect), and a cognitive-judgmental component, the latter often referred to as life satisfaction [3]. As described by Diener and associates, judgments of life satisfaction are “depen- dent upon a comparison of one’s circumstances with what is thought to be an appropriate standard” [4, p. 71). The primary advantage of measuring life satisfaction with this approach is that the individual, rather than the researcher, uniquely determines the comparative standard upon which the judgment of life satisfaction is based. While this flexibility may limit a clear understanding of the rela- tive importance of specific life domains across popula- tions, life satisfaction scores do allow for comparisons in overall life satisfaction across different populations by