University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Individual and Situational Factors Associated With Social Barriers for Persons With Mobility Impairment

McCaughey, Tiffany

Content Files
2_McCaughey_Tiffany.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/14585

Description

Title
Individual and Situational Factors Associated With Social Barriers for Persons With Mobility Impairment
Author(s)
McCaughey, Tiffany
Issue Date
2010-01-06T16:13:17Z
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Hannum, James W.
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Hannum, James W.
Committee Member(s)
  • Rounds, James
  • Neville, Helen A.
  • Trach, John S.
  • Collins, Kimberly
Department of Study
Educational Psychology
Discipline
Educational Psychology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Date of Ingest
2010-01-06T16:13:17Z
Keyword(s)
  • Disability
  • Able-bodied persons
  • Affect
  • Emotional response
  • Disability attitudes
  • Avoidance
  • Social relationships
  • Emotion regulation
Abstract
Decades of research have examined factors involved in complex, and sometimes stressful, interpersonal interactions between individuals with and without disabilities. The present study applies structural equation modeling to test an integrative model of individual and situational factors affecting encounters between able-bodied college students and their peers with mobility impairments. A vignette design was employed that involved input from focus groups of college students with mobility impairments. Data was collected from 360 able-bodied students at a Mid-Western university. Results provided support for a structural model that included previous contact with disability, global disability attitudes, and negative affect in predicting behavioral intentions to avoid. Affective arousal emerged as a strong predictor of behavioral intentions to avoid peers with disabilities. Global disability attitudes were fairly strongly predictive of negative affect and weakly predictive of behavioral avoidance. Secondary analyses explored whether emotion regulation strategies would moderate the effect of negative affect on behavioral intentions to avoid future encounters with a peer in a wheelchair. Reappraisal and suppression emerged as weak but statistically significant predictors of behavioral avoidance. Further, results indicated modest support for the hypothesis that reappraisal can lower the likelihood that an able-bodied individual who experiences affective arousal will choose to avoid further interactions. Implications for research, clinical practice, and campus interventions are considered.
Graduation Semester
2009-12
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/14585
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2009 Tiffany McCaughey

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