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Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities  (NLTS2)
NCSER 2007-3006
September 2007

Self-Realization Scale

To obtain a broader picture of youth with disabilities' self-descriptions and perceptions of their lives, NLTS2 asked youth to report in an in-person interview23 the extent to which their behavior reflects skills associated with the self-realization subscale of The Arc's Self-Determination Scale (Wehmeyer 1997). Items in this subscale were selected from those in the original instrument with the highest factor loading and face validity to reflect the self-realization domain. Responses to all items are self-reports by youth.

According to Wehmeyer (1997), self-knowledge and self-understanding form through experiences in one's environment, influences from significant others, and reinforcement of one's behavior. Items included in the self-realization subscale24 assess how youth perceive their strengths, limitations, and confidence in their abilities and interactions with others.

On each item, youth's self-realization is measured on a 4-point scale ranging from "never agree" to "always agree" with a series of statements. A summative scale of self-realization ranges from 5 (all responses "never agree") to 20 (all responses "always agree") and are reported as low (5 to 9), medium (10 to 15), and high (16 to 20) (figure 4). Nearly all youth score in the medium (36 percent) or high range (62 percent).

Figure 4: Self-realization scale scores

23 Although the in-person interview was conducted with all youth for whom a direct assessment of academic skills was completed, responses are included here only for the subsample of youth who were able to respond for themselves to the Wave 2 telephone interview or mail survey.

24 Self-realization items include: I can like people even if I don't agree with them; I know what I do best; I like myself; I know how to make up for my limitations; and I am confident in my abilities.