Self-Esteem of Higher Education Students with Mobility Impairments: The Impact of Social Support and Transition Skills

ABSTRACT

Social support can play an important role in the self-esteem of young adults with disabilities. Moreover, low transition skills could negatively affect their self-esteem. However, there are no previous studies detailing the impact of social support and transition skills on the self-esteem of young adults with mobility impairments. This study aims to evaluate the self-esteem, social support, and transition skills of higher education students with mobility impairments, as well as, the impact of social support and transition knowledge/skills on their self-esteem. The research sample consisted of 26 higher education students with mobility impairments studying in three Greek universities. Significant correlations were revealed between self-esteem and social support, as well as between self-esteem and transition knowledge/skills. Moreover, transition knowledge-skills and parents’ social support were significant predictors of self-esteem. Students’ self-esteem was higher when the parents’ social support was higher and the transition knowledge/skills were better. These findings are important because they highlight the value of education aimed at developing transition skills, as well as the importance of providing social support to young adults with mobility impairments.

KEYWORDS:

• Mobility impairments
• higher education
• self-esteem
• social support
• transition skills

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Compliance with Ethical Standards

The ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki were followed, and informed consent was obtained from the participants according to the procedure suggested by the World Medical Association.