Visibility of Disability, Attributional Style, Psychosocial Adjustment to Disability, and Self-Advocacy

206 Pages·2015·4.37 MB·English

by  Katharine Susan Adams

Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2007
Visibility of Disability, Attributional Style,
Psychosocial Adjustment to Disability, and
Self-Advocacy Skill in Relation to Student
Adaptation to College
Katharine Susan Adams
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

VISIBILITY OF DISABILITY, ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE, PSYCHOSOCIAL
ADJUSTMENT TO DISABILITY, AND SELF-ADVOCACY SKILL
IN RELATION TO STUDENT ADAPTATION TO COLLEGE

By
KATHARINE S. ADAMS

A Dissertation submitted to the
Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded:
Summer Semester, 2007

Copyright © 2007
Katharine S. Adams
All Rights Reserved
The members of the committee approved the dissertation of Katharine S. Adams
defended on June 25, 2007.

____________________________
Briley Proctor
Professor Directing Dissertation

____________________________
Deborah Ebener
Outside Committee Member

____________________________
Huijun Li
Committee Member

____________________________
Frances Prevatt
Committee Member

Approved:

______________________________________________________________
Akihito Kamata, Chairperson, Educational Psychology and Learning Systems

The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members.
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“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11

First, I dedicate this dissertation to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You have led me
through this journey as part of your greater plan. Over the past four years, you have given me a
sense of peace and assurance that I am living in your will. You have given me the confidence to
accomplish things that I did not think possible. You have continued to provide me with strength
when I was most weak. May my work bring honor and glory to your name and may my future
provide service to your kingdom.
Second, my dissertation is dedicated to my husband, Ryan. The past four years have been
a sacrifice for you and you have endured it without complaint. You have supported my dream
and when times were most difficult you were the one to help me find balance between God,
family, and career. Without your love and support none of this would have been possible.
Third, I dedicate this dissertation to my daughters, Emily and Audrey. You have watched
me read, write, and study when you really just wanted me to play. My prayer is that you will
forget all the stressful times and inherit my passion for education and the desire to learn. I want
you to believe that you can achieve anything that you want as long as you work hard and
persevere.
Finally, my dissertation is dedicated to my parents. Thank you for instilling in me a
strong work ethic and the desire to try my best in all I do. Thank you for teaching me in the ways
of the Lord, showing me the importance of family, and instilling in me the importance of
education. Because of you, I know what is important to me and am content with my life.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To Dr. Briley Proctor, my Major Professor and Chairperson of my committee, I express
my appreciation for her continued dedication to my success through the course of this research. I
offer thanks to her for allowing me the freedom to formulate and pursue my own areas of interest
and providing constructive feedback when appropriate. I thank her for encouraging my
independence and empathizing in times of discouragement. Her continued guidance and support
was essential to the completion of this dissertation.
I am grateful to my other committee members, Dr. Frances Prevatt, Dr. Huijun Li, and
Dr. Deborah Ebener, for agreeing to serve on my committee and giving their time to this
endeavor. I offer my thanks for their guidance in the development of my study and their genuine
interest in my progress though out the implementation of the study. To Dr. Ebener, I express
special thanks for contributing her knowledge in the area of disability and rehabilitation
counseling.
To my friend, Yaacov Petscher, I express my gratitude for his assistance through
statistical consultation. With your support and encouragement, I have been able to understand
statistical analysis in a more complex and dynamic way.
Thank you to the faculty and staff of Florida State University, Valdosta State University,
University of Central Florida, University of North Florida, and North Florida Community
College for granting me research access to students registered with student disability services.
To all the students in Florida and South Georgia who contributed their time by
participating in this study, I offer thanks.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables………………………………………………………………………………… vii
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….…... viii

1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………..….. 1
Overview………………………………………………………………………………..... 1
Statement of the Problem……………………………………………………………….... 8
Significance of the Study……………………………………………………………….... 8
Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………………………... 9
Research Questions………………………………………………………………………. 9

2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE……………………………………………………….. 11
Disability………………………………………………………………………………..... 11
Adaptation to College…………………………………………………………………….. 14
Attributional Style………………………………………………………………………... 19
Psychosocial Adjustment to Disability…………………………………………………... 35
Visibility of Disability……………………………………………………………………. 43
Self-Advocacy……………………………………………………………………………. 47
Critical Analysis of the Literature………………………………………………………... 55

3. METHODS………………………………………………………………………………... 62
Overview…………………………………………………………………………………. 62
Research and Statistical Hypotheses……………………………………………………... 64
Population and Sample…………………………………………………………………… 65
Instrumentation Format…………………………………………………………………... 69
Procedures………………………………………………………………………………... 81
Research Design and Data Analysis……………………………………………………… 85

4. RESULTS…………………………………………………………………………………. 89
Overview…………………………………………………………………………………. 89
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Reliability and Validity of Measures…………………………………………………….. 90
Multivariate Analysis of Variance……………………………………………………….. 92
Bivariate Correlation Analysis…………………………………………………………… 94
Canonical Correlation Analysis………………………………………………………….. 96
Summary of Results……………………………………………………………………… 100

5. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION………………………………………………………... 101
Research Summary……………………………………………………………………….. 101
Results……………………………………………………………………………………. 102
Limitations and Delimitations……………………………………………………………. 103
Discussion and Implications of Results………………………………………………….. 105
Overall Significance of the Study………………………………………………………... 114
Future Research Suggestions…………………………………………………………….. 114

APPENDIX A……………………………………………………………………………….. 117
APPENDIX B……………………………………………………………………………….. 120
APPENDIX C……………………………………………………………………………….. 123
APPENDIX D……………………………………………………………………………….. 128
APPENDIX E……………………………………………………………………………….. 136
APPENDIX F……………………………………………………………………………….. 140
APPENDIX G……………………………………………………………………………….. 147
APPENDIX H……………………………………………………………………………….. 151
APPENDIX I……………………………………………………………………………….. 153
APPENDIX J……………………………………………………………………………….. 159
APPENDIX K……………………………………………………………………………….. 165
APPENDIX L……………………………………………………………………………….. 171
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………. 177
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH………………………………………………………………… 190

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LIST OF TABLES

1. 2005-2006 General College Student Demographic Data By Postsecondary Institution…... 65
2. College Students Registered With Disability Services Demographic Data By
Postsecondary Institution…………………………………………………………………... 66

3. Analysis of Participant Responses…………………………………………………………. 90

4. Correlations Between SAQ Items and SAQ Total………………………………………… 91

5. MANOVA Means and Standard Deviation………………………………………………... 93

6. Bivariate Correlations……………………………………………………………………… 95

7. Data on the Pair of Canonical Variates…………………………………………………….. 98

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ABSTRACT
The current study was an exploratory and descriptive study and examined the relationship
between perceived visibility of disability, attributional style for positive events, attributional
style for negative events, psychosocial adjustment to disability, perceived self-advocacy skill,
and the multidimensional construct of student adaptation to college, which includes academic
adjustment, social adjustment, personal/emotional adjustment, institutional attachment, and
current semester grade point average (GPA) for college students with disabilities. Furthermore,
this study investigated the differences between the attributional style for positive events,
attributional style for negative events and student adaptation to college for students with
disabilities as compared to students without disabilities.
The data used for analysis were obtained through an on-line survey administration of the
following instruments: a demographic questionnaire containing questions asking participants to
rate the perceived visibility of their disability and asking for current semester GPA, the
Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Peterson, Semmel, von Baeyer, Abramson, Metalsky, &
Seligman, 1982), the adjustment scale of the Reaction to Impairment and Disability Inventory
(RIDI; Livneh & Antonak, 1990), a measure of perceived self-advocacy skill specifically
developed by the researcher for the purposes of this study, and the Student Adaptation to College
Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker & Siryk, 1989).
Results indicate clearly that when considering the differences between those participants
with disabilities and those without disabilities, the non-disabled group scored significantly higher
for social adjustment, personal/emotional adjustment, and institutional attachment. In terms of
attributional style, the disability group scored higher indicating a more internal, stable, and
global attributional style for both positive events and negative events.
Further analysis conducted using just the disability group data revealed many significant
and practically important bivariate correlations between variables including self-advocacy skill,
institutional attachment, personal/emotional adjustment, social adjustment, and overall student
adaptation to college. Canonical correlation determined a significant interrelationship between
the predictive domains (student characteristics) and the criterion domains (adjustment outcomes)
which were explained by a single canonical pair. 16% of the adjustment outcome variance was
explained by the student characteristic variables. This explanation was due to a relatively strong
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relationship between Positive Student Response and Positive Adjustment Outcomes (the single
canonical pair).

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