Sources of Support³⁹

Given the variety of developmental changes and challenges youth face in adolescence (Dacey, Kenny, and Margolis 2000), many rely on others—family and friends, school staff, and other adults—for support in making choices and coping with stressors, as described below. To assess their patterns of sources of support, youth with disabilities were asked to respond to the following: "Let me read you a list of some kinds of people that someone might turn to when making important decisions or facing problems. Please tell me whether you personally rely on this type of person a lot, a fair amount, just some, or not too much."

Reliance on family and friends. Youth with disabilities indicate that when making important decisions or facing problems, they most often rely on their family members and friends for support (figure 17). Parents are by far the most common source of support; almost two-thirds of youth with disabilities (63 percent) indicate they rely on their parents "a lot," and another 20 percent say they rely on them "a fair amount." Approximately 40 percent of youth indicate they rely on friends and siblings "a lot," and between 20 percent and 25 percent report they rely on them "a fair amount." Girlfriends and boyfriends also are relied on frequently, with one-third of youth indicating they rely on them "a lot," and one-fourth saying they rely on them "a fair amount" for decisionmaking and problem-solving assistance.

Figure 17: Reported extent of youth's reliance on family and friends for support

Comparisons between youth with disabilities and youth in the general population in the extents to which they report relying on family members and friends revealed only one statistically significant difference. Among youth with disabilities, 40 percent indicate they rely on friends "a lot," significantly fewer than the 53 percent of youth in the general population who do so (p < .001).

Reliance on others. Other adults with whom youth have repeated contact—teachers, for youth who are in school, and clerics, for youth who have a religious affiliation—are relied on "a lot" by about one-fourth of youth (figure 18). About one-fifth of youth who are in school rely on guidance counselors "a lot," and a similar proportion of working youth rely on their boss or supervisor to that degree; other adults are a frequent source of support for about one-fifth of youth with disabilities. Coworkers are not a common source of support. There are no statistically significant differences between youth with disabilities and youth in the general population in their degrees of reliance on people in these roles.

Figure 18: Reported extent of youth's reliance on persons outside their family

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