The purpose of this study was to examine whether students with Cerebral palsy would have different self-esteem according to general characteristics. The subjects in this study were 336 elementary, middle and high school division students with cerebral...
The purpose of this study was to examine whether students with Cerebral palsy would have different self-esteem according to general characteristics. The subjects in this study were 336 elementary, middle and high school division students with cerebral palsy from eight different special schools for disabled youth, As a result of investigating them with self-preception profile, the following findings were given:
First, the students with cerebral palsy had different self-esteem according to general characteristics. By gender, the boy students possessed better self-esteem in athletic competence and physical appearance than the girl students. By school grade, the elementary division students had better cognitive competence than the middle and high school division students. But the type of disability and family environment gave little impact on their self-esteem.
Second, the subareas of their self-esteem were strongly correlated to one another. For the boy students, higher self-esteem in physical appearance led to better global self-worth, and for the girls, cognitive competence and physical appearance were correlated the most.
By school grade, the elementary division students who had better self-esteem in social acceptance had the best! global self-worth. For the middle school division students, behavioral conduct and global self-worth were correlated the most. In case of the high school division, physical appearance and global self-worth were correlated the most. Specifically, higher self-esteem in social acceptance, behavioral conduct and physical appearance was accompanied with better global self-worth.
By type of disability, the students with convulsive cerebral palsy who had higher self-esteem in physical appearance had the best global self-worth. For those with athetotic cerebral palsy, there was the strongest correlation between social acceptance and global self-worth. In the case of the other types of disability, physical appearance had the strongest correlation with global self-worth. In particular, higher self-esteem in physical appearance and social acceptance was associated with better global self-worth for every group.
Concerning family environment, the group from the high class had the best global self-worth when they had higher self-esteem in physical appearance. The middle class group showed the strongest correlation between cognitive competence and global self-worth, and for the low class group, there was the highest correlation between physical appearance and global self-worth. For every group, better self-esteem in physical appearance and cognitive competence led to higher global self-worth.
There are some suggestions based on the above-mentioned findings:
First, it's not recommendable to generalize the findings of this study because the instrument used in this study didn't have good reliability in some subareas. To develop test reliability, there is a need to bring extensive modification to the test instrument before use.
Second, follow-up research efforts of diverse approaches are required.