Disability Category Differences in Views of Personal Relationships

Perceptions of Relationships With Others

Familial relationships. The percentage of youth with disabilities who feel cared about by parents "a lot" ranges from 76 percent of youth with autism to more than 90 percent of youth with orthopedic impairments (table 13). There is somewhat more variation in the amount of attention youth feel comes from their family. Although the percentages of youth who feel that their family pays "a lot" of attention to them range from 56 percent to 65 percent across most categories, exceptions are the 50 percent of youth with emotional disturbances and the 51 percent of youth with other health impairments. Youth in both disability categories are significantly less likely to report feeling that their family pays "a lot" of attention to them than are youth with multiple disabilities (72 percent; p < .01 for both comparisons). About 1 in 10 youth with autism, mental retardation, or emotional disturbances say their families pay attention to them "very little" or "not at all"; in the case of the latter group, this is significantly more than the 1 percent of youth with orthopedic impairments who report those feelings (p < .01).

Table 13: Youth's reported perceptions of being cared about by parents and paid attention to by their families

Friend relationships. Just as they are among the most likely to report very little or no attention from parents, at 12 percent, youth with mental retardation are more likely than youth in two categories to report feeling cared about by friends "very little" or "not at all" (p < .001 compared with youth with visual impairments; p < .01 compared with youth with learning disabilities; table 14). Thirty-eight to 62 percent of youth report feeling cared about "a lot" by friends; the only statistically significant difference is between youth with visual impairments and youth with autism (62 percent vs. 38 percent, p < .01). Between 2 percent and 10 percent of youth in most disabilities report feeling cared about "very little" or "not at all" by friends; youth with mental retardation exceed this range, reporting this perception significantly more often than youth with visual impairments (18 percent vs. 2 percent, p < .001).

There are few differences across categories in the extent to which youth report they can find a friend when they need one; from 71 percent to 82 percent of youth across most categories report that view. The exceptions are youth with autism or traumatic brain injuries, among whom 47 percent and 59 percent, respectively, report they can find a friend; this rate for youth with autism is significantly lower than for youth in most other categories (p < .001 compared with youth with learning disabilities or hearing or speech/language impairments; p < .01 compared with youth with emotional disturbances; visual, orthopedic, or other health impairments; or multiple disabilities).

The greatest variation across categories is apparent regarding youth's confidence that they "can make friends easily." Seventy percent or more of youth with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, mental retardation, or hearing impairments report they are confident they can, whereas 39 percent of youth with autism report that feeling (p < .001 for comparisons with youth with learning disabilities or emotional disturbances, p < .01 for comparisons with youth with mental retardation or hearing impairments). With the exceptions of youth with mental retardation or hearing or orthopedic impairments, youth with autism are more likely than youth in all other categories to say they are "not at all confident" they can make friends easily (p < .001 for all comparisons).

Table 14. Youth's reported perceptions of relationships with friends, by disability category

Sources of Support

There are statistically significant differences across disability categories in the degree to which youth rely on family and friends and on others in the community.

Reliance on family and friends. Across disability categories, from 58 percent to 82 percent of youth indicate they rely on parents for support "a lot" (table 15). Youth with multiple disabilities are more likely to report this level of reliance than youth with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, or speech/language or other health impairments (p < .01 for all comparisons).

In contrast, fewer than half of youth in all categories but traumatic brain injuries indicate "a lot" of reliance on friends. Youth in this latter category join youth with visual or speech/language impairments in being significantly more likely to report this level of reliance on friends than are youth with autism or deaf-blindness (23 percent and 21 percent, respectively; p < .01 for all comparisons).

Table 15. Reported extent of youth's reliance on family and friends, by disability category

The extent to which youth rely "a lot" on siblings does not significantly differ across categories. From 25 percent of youth with autism to 47 percent of youth with traumatic brain injuries rely "a lot" on siblings; none of the disability group differences are statistically significant.

From 19 percent of youth with autism to 40 percent of youth with traumatic brain injuries say they rely "a lot" on a boyfriend or girlfriend. None of the disability category comparisons indicate statistically significant differences between groups in the percentage of youth who report relying on a boyfriend or girlfriend "a lot."

Reliance on others. There is greater variability across disability categories in the degree to which youth rely on teachers than on people in other nonfamilial roles (table 16). Percentages reporting they rely on teachers "a lot" range from 12 percent of youth with speech/language impairments to 45 percent of youth with mental retardation, the only significant difference in this level of reliance on teachers across categories (p < .001). Reliance on clerics "a lot" ranges from 9 percent among youth with hearing impairments to 31 percent among those with mental retardation; the difference between these two groups, as well as between youth with learning disabilities and those with hearing impairments, is statistically significant (p < .01 and p < .001, respectively). There are no statistically significant differences across disability categories in youth relying "a lot" on their guidance counselor, their boss or supervisor, their coworkers, or other adults for support.

Table 16. Reported extent of youth's reliance on persons other than family and friends for support, by disability category

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