title: Self-esteem and women with disabilities.
abstract: This study examines the sense of self of women with physical disabilities in terms of self-esteem, self-cognition (perceptions of how others see them), and social isolation. It was hypothesized that these variables mediate the relation of precursor variables (age, education, severity of disability, and childhood experiences, including overprotection, familial affection, and school environment) and outcomes (intimacy, employment, and health promoting behaviors). Data were gathered from a sample of 881 community-dwelling women in the USA, 475 with a variety of mild to severe physical disabilities, and 406 without disabilities. Correlation analyses indicated that the women with disabilities had significantly lower self-cognition and self-esteem, and greater social isolation than the women without disabilities, as well as significantly less education, more overprotection during childhood, poorer quality of intimate relationships, and lower rates of salaried employment. Path analysis indicated that each of the sense of self mediators was significantly related to the outcome of intimacy, that both social isolation and self-esteem were significantly related to health promoting behaviors, and that only self-esteem was significantly related to employment. Respondents who were older, less disabled, less educated, less over-protected, and had more affection shown in the home tended to feel that others saw them more positively. Women with positive school environments, less over-protection, and more affection in the home experienced less social isolation; age, education, and disability severity were not significantly related to social isolation. Older respondents with less disability, a more positive school environment, less over-protection, and more affection in the home tended to have greater self-esteem; education was not significantly related to self-esteem. Older respondents tended to report less intimacy. Younger, more educated, and less disabled respondents were significantly more likely to be employed. More highly educated respondents reported engaging in more health promoting behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine, Center for Research on Women with Disabilities, Baylor College of Medicine, 3440 Richmond, Suite B, 77046, Houston, TX, USA. mnosek@bcm.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Margaret A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nosek
authors.forename: Rosemary B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Swedlund
authors.forename: Heather B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Swank
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012649:Self Concept; D012931:Social Environment; D012934:Social Isolation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D016387:Women's Health