“How I Feel” Self-Descriptions

In addition to self-perceptions related to "who I am" types of attributes, youth with disabilities were asked to share their feelings about both positive and negative aspects of themselves and their lives.

Positive Aspects

Youth with disabilities were asked to report their self-descriptions related to three positive aspects of their lives—being proud of who they are, that life is full of interesting things to do, and feeling useful and important—on a 3-point scale: "very much like you" (3 points), "a little like you," or "not at all like you" (1 point). Two aspects—enjoying life and feeling hopeful about the future—are reported on a 4-point scale: "most or all of the time" (4 points), "a lot of the time," "sometimes," or "rarely/never" (1 point).

Approximately three-quarters of youth with disabilities report feeling proud of who they are (73 percent), and fewer than 1 percent report that this attribute is "not at all" like them (figure 2). Three of five strongly state that they feel that life is full of interesting things to do, and fewer than 7 percent state that life is "not at all" interesting. More than half (59 percent) respond that the statement "you feel useful and important" is "very much" like them, although almost 1 of 10 (9 percent) report that feeling useful and important is "not at all" like them.

When youth were asked how frequently in the previous week they felt they enjoyed life, more than half (58 percent) of those with disabilities stated they enjoyed life "most or all of the time," and approximately 95 percent reported enjoying life at least sometimes. Youth with disabilities are 12 percentage points more likely than those in the general population to report that they enjoy life "most or all" of the time (58 percent vs. 46 percent, p < .001).²² Feelings of "rarely or never" or only "sometimes" enjoying life do not differ for youth with disabilities and those in the general population.

Many also describe themselves as being hopeful about the future, with 41 percent reporting they are hopeful about the future "most or all of the time" and an additional 23 percent reporting being hopeful "a lot of the time." In contrast, 12 percent report "rarely or never" feeling hopeful about the future. Youth with disabilities are more likely than their peers in the general population to state they are hopeful "most or all of the time" (41 percent vs. 31 percent, p < .01). Youth with disabilities and those in the general population do not differ in their rate of reporting "rarely or never" feeling hopeful about the future. However, those with disabilities tend to be less positive in their descriptions of feelings about the future than about other aspects of their lives. They are less likely to report frequently feeling hopeful about the future than to describe themselves as feeling very proud or useful, or to assert that they frequently feel life is interesting or enjoyable (p < .001 for all comparisons with hopeful about the future).

Figure 2: Youth with disabilities' reported feelings about positive aspects of self and life

Youth who report feeling positive about one aspect of their life tend to be more positive about others; the same relationship holds for less positive feelings. For example, youth who assert they are proud of who they are, are more likely also to state they feel useful and important r = .37 (p < .001). Values on the response scales for each positive aspect of life are correlated, producing correlation coefficients that range from r = .24 (p < .001) for the relationship between feeling useful and important and feeling hopeful about the future, to r = .38 (p < .001) for the relationship between feeling useful and important and feeling that life is full of interesting things to do.

Negative Aspects

Switching the focus to negative feelings, youth were asked to report on a 4-point scale whether they felt depressed, lonely, or disliked "most or all of the time" (4 points), "a lot of the time," "sometimes," or "rarely or never" (1 point). Youth with disabilities are less likely to report negative than positive perceptions of life (figures 2 and 3). For example, 5 percent report feeling depressed "most or all of the time" during the prior week, and 4 percent report feeling depressed "a lot of the time" during the week. These percentages are significantly lower than the percentages of youth who report enjoying life "most or all of the time" during the preceding week (58 percent) or who report that feeling that life is full of interesting things to do is "very much" like them (61 percent; p < .001 for all comparisons).

Whereas 58 percent report "rarely or never" feeling depressed in a given week, approximately one-third (34 percent) report feeling depressed "sometimes." When focusing on the two ends of the frequency spectrum—in the prior week feeling depressed "most or all of the time" or "rarely or never"—youth with disabilities and their peers in the general population do not differ significantly. However, youth with disabilities are less likely than their peers to say they are depressed "a lot of the time" (4 percent vs. 7 percent, p < .01).

About 6 in 10 youth with disabilities (62 percent) indicate "never" or "rarely" feeling lonely during the previous week, with most of the remaining youth (26 percent) feeling lonely "sometimes"; these percentages are not statistically significantly different from percentages for youth in the general population. However, youth with disabilities are significantly more likely than general-population peers to report feeling lonely "most or all of the time" (8 percent vs. 2 percent, p < .001).

Feelings of being disliked are about as prevalent among youth with disabilities as feelings of being lonely or depressed. Sixty-one percent report they "rarely" or "never" felt disliked in the previous week, and 29 percent report feeling that way "sometimes." The extent to which youth with disabilities report feeling disliked differs significantly from that of youth in the general population, among whom fewer report feeling disliked "most or all of the time" (1 percent vs. 7 percent, p < .001).

Similar to the relationship reported earlier for positive aspects of their lives, correlations between youths' responses to negative items were statistically significant. Those who report they frequently are depressed also are likely to report frequently feeling lonely r = .46 (p < .001) or disliked r = .38 (p < .001), and youth who state feeling that others dislike them also are more likely to report feeling lonely r = .39 (p < .001).

Figure 3: Youth with disabilities' reported feelings about negative aspects of self and life

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