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Abstract
This article describes a
number of key findings of one section of a Dutch study of the personal
network and social support of blind and visually impaired adolescents (N
= 316). The key question was, are there any differences between adolescents
in special education and those in regular education with respect to such
factors as self-esteem and the social support system? We found certain
differences between adolescents in special or regular education, in particular
in the area of social contacts.
Introduction
In September 1994 the University
of Amsterdam conducted a study of the personal network and social support
of blind and visually impaired adolescents, aged 14 to 24. This study is
carried out with cooperation from a Dutch federation of organizations of
parents of visually handicapped children (FOVIG). We are very interested
in the relation between personal network and social support variables on
the one hand and psychological variables as: self-esteem, locus of control,
coping strategies and the acceptation of the handicap on the other hand.
These psychological variables function as indicators for adjustment to
visual impairment. In the present article we only address the issues concerning
differences between attending classes in special or regular education.
In the fall of 1998 an English dissertation concerning the relations between
network and adjustment variables will be published.
The positive influence
of social contacts and social support found its way into social and psychological
science during the last decade. It has been well established in the social
science literature that social support enhances physical and psychological
well-being and buffers the negative effects of life stress (Cauce, Mason,
Gonzales, Hiraga & Liu, 1994; Robinson, 1995). Social support from
our networks can improve coping in adulthood but also in childhood and
adolescence, through different forms of helping behavior; emotional, informational,
practical, and appraisal. In addition, support is protective and improves
well-being through the psychological effects of the mere presence of others,
which prevents isolation; of being a valued part of a network; of receiving
signs of love and understanding; and of being sure of receiving help when
needed. These effects foster not only self-esteem and self-assurance, but
also feelings of security and control over oneself and the environment
(Heller, Swindle & Dusenbury, 1986). Research is only now beginning
to address whether supportive relationships with parents, friends, teachers,
grandparents, and important others affect the social and emotional development
of children and adolescents (Cauce et al., 1994).
Research on networks
usually distinguishes between structural and functional network variables
(Buysse, in preparation; Tracy & Whittaker, 1990). Important structural
variables in theory and research are the size and composition of the personal
network. Personal network refers to the ego-centered network of significant
persons of one individual. Important functional network variables are social
support and satisfaction with support. Social support is the support that
is exchanged, it refers to aid, affect and affirmation. Many studies find
two factors in social support: emotional and practical support. The satisfaction
with support is the individual feeling about the support that is being
given or received (Antonucci & Akiyama, 1994).
Because of the transition
to independence and finding one's own identity, adolescence is an interesting
period for research on personal networks and social support. Professionals
and parents are sometimes concerned about the psychosocial development
of blind and visually impaired children and adolescents. Several research
results confirmed the problems in psychosocial functioning of blind and
visually impaired adolescents, while other didn't. How do blind and visually
impaired adolescents develop psychosocially, and what is the influence
of social contacts and social support from specific network members? That
is the main question of this national study. For the purpose of this conference,
we address at this moment the question of differences between adolescents
at special schools and those at regular schools with regard to psychosocial
functioning and social contacts.
In the last two decades,
the integration process has spread all over the Netherlands. The majority
of the blind and visually impaired children and adolescents attend classes
at regular schools, often with assistance from an itinerant teacher (Bodin-Baarends
& Versantvoort, 1992). The didactics of education for the blind and
visually impaired were formulated as follows: the didactics are determined
by on the one hand the special needs because of the visual impairment and
on the other hand the demand of giving the blind and visually impaired
the education that makes it possible for them to integrate in a cultural,
social and professional way (Moonen, 1996). Integration and normalization
have many positive aspects, for instance dealing with the normal social
demands of peers, people getting used to meeting and associating with the
impaired and vice versa, and a positive change in the attitude towards
the blind and visually impaired (Forsbak, 1995).
Research questions
Are there any differences
between adolescents in regular or special education, with regard to their
psychosocial functioning and social contacts?
For the study described
here, this question was divided into three parts:
1. Are there differences
between adolescents in regular or special education, with regard to self-esteem,
locus of control, coping strategies, handicap acceptation, loneliness and
well-being?
2. Are there differences
between attending classes in regular education or special education on
the social contacts and social support system?
Do adolescents at
a regular school have more sighted friends than those at a special school?
3. Are there any differences
with respect to the social support of different sources, between adolescents
in regular or special education?
Method
Participants
The population of the Dutch
study consisted of blind and visually impaired adolescents between 14 and
24 years of age, with no other serious impairments such as hearing or cognitive
impairments. The participants lived either with their parents, in residential
centers or on their own. Some attended classes in regular schools, others
were in special schools for blind and visually impaired students. Through
the cooperation of special schools and rehabilitation centers, more than
950 blind and visually impaired adolescents received a large-print or braille
letter containing information about the study. Finally, 354 (37%) adolescents
wanted to participate in this study. Some participants were dropped from
the sample because of language problems or the time pressure of school
examinations. Of the final sample of 316 participants, 166 were male and
150 female. They were divided into three age-groups: 14 through 17 years
(N=144), 18 through 20 years (N=98) and 21 through 23 years (N=74). The
participants were also categorized according to the degree of their visual
impairments, based on self-reports of their ability to perform certain
activities; 60 were blind, 58 had severe visual impairments, and 198 had
moderate visual impairments.
Of the final sample,
40% always attended classes in regular education. Only 5% always attended
classes in special education for the blind and visually impaired students
and 55% attended classes in both regular education and special education.
For some analysis it was necessary to combine the last two groups. From
the sample, 77% received assistance from an itinerant teacher of a school
for the blind and visually impaired.
Procedure
The data were collected in
face-to-face interviews using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI).
In CAPI, an interviewer visits a participant with a portable computer and
conducts a face-to-face interview using the computer. The Ci3 program (Hutchinson
& Metegrano, 1991) was used to construct the computer questionnaire.
Computer-assisted data collection methods improve the quality of survey
data, especially when complex questionnaires are used, and are accepted
by participants and interviewers (De Leeuw, Hox, & Snijkers, 1995).
Sixteen interviewers,
all female college students with majors in special education, attended
a three-day training program in interviewing and practiced interviewing
with members of their own network. After this training, they visited the
adolescents in their homes and interviewed them for approximately 1½
hours. For the more private topics of the survey, the interviewers only
read the questions, and the participants typed in the answers (just one
key each).
Instruments
To measure the size and composition of the personal networks and social support, a slightly changed version of the Social Network Map and Social Network Grid (Buysse, in preparation; Tracy & Whittaker, 1990) was used. To measure locus of control, coping strategies and loneliness, three Dutch instruments were used (Peetsma, 1992; Schreurs, in preparation; De Jong-Gierveld, 1984). To measure self-esteem, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965, 1979) was used. For handicap acceptation a section of the Nottingham Adjustment Scale (Dodds, Bailey, Pearson & Yates, 1991) was used and for well-being, the Cantrill scale (Cantrill, 1965). The question with regard to the school situation was: Did you always attended classes at a regular school, a special school for blind or visually impaired students or at both?
Data analysis
An analysis of variance (ANOVA)
was conducted to determine whether the factor regular or special education
had any effect on the dependent variables network size, network composition,
and sources of support. Where applicable, a multivariate analysis of variance
(MANOVA) was conducted. The investigators chose the MANOVA because it measures
several dependent variables, instead of just one dependent variable, strengthening
the power of the test. A second advantage is that it protects against Type
I error due to multiple tests. The results of evaluations of standard assumptions
of normality, homogeneity of variance-covariance matrices, linearity, and
multicollinearity, following procedures suggested by Tabachnick & Fidell
(1989), were satisfactory.
With crosstabs and
chi-square tests, many significant correlations between the independent
variables were found. The effects of these variables on a dependent variable
are confounded, for instance more blind adolescents attended classes in
special education and more visually impaired in regular education. The
confounding of these effects made it necessary to control for the degree
of visual impairment in all analysis of type of education, and vice versa.
Results
Psychosocial functioning
Are there differences between
adolescents in regular or special education, with regard to self-esteem,
locus of control, coping strategies, handicap acceptation, loneliness and
well-being?
The blind and visually
impaired adolescents in this study had a positive view of their capacities
and possibilities, they had a high self-esteem. No significant differences
were found among adolescents in regular education and those in special
education. In addition, two significant differences were found in the case
of other subgroups in the sample: male participants had a higher
self-esteem than female participants, and adolescents with a stable visual
disorder had a higher self-esteem than adolescents with a progressive disorder.
As regards, locus
of control, a few differences were found and none had to do with attending
classes in regular or special education. Adolescents in different kinds
of education experienced comparable sense of control in their life. The
most striking result in our study were a higher sense of control for male
participants compared with female participants, and adolescents with many
blind or visually impaired friends perceived less control than adolescents
with many sighted friends.
Coping strategies
are generally divided into three groups: problem focussed strategies,
emotion focussed strategies and strategies focussed at avoiding the problem.
The problem focussed strategies are often used with stress in situations
with a high degree of control and the emotion focussed strategies are often
used with stress in situations with a low degree of control. No significant
differences between adolescents in regular or special education were recorded.
There was one tendency in the case of emotion focussed strategies:
adolescents who attend or have attended classes in special education only,
used these strategies more often than those who at some time have attended
classes in regular education.
With regard to the
acceptation of the impairment, no differences were found for adolescents
at special or regular schools. The main variables that account for differences
in the level of acceptation, were the degree and kind of impairment and
the level of independence with regard to mobility. Adolescents with a severe
impairment have a lower score on handicap acceptation than the blind and
moderately visually impaired adolescents. Participants with a progressive
disorder have more difficulty in accepting their impairment than those
with a stable disorder. Finally, adolescents who feel dependent on someone
else with regard to mobility, had more acceptation problems.
No significant relation
was found between regular of special education on the one hand and feelings
of loneliness of the participants on the other hand. Analysis with other
variables showed one important result, adolescents who didn't have an after-school
job tended to be more lonely than those who did have an after-school job.
Finally, we come to
the results on well-being. Adolescents in special education are just as
happy as adolescents in regular education. The only significant difference
was found for the three age groups. Adolescents over the age of twenty
were more unhappy than those under twenty.
Social contacts
Are there differences between
attending classes in regular education or special education on the social
contacts and social support system? Do adolescents at a regular school
have more sighted friends than those at a special school?
No significant relation
was found between regular or special education on the one hand and the
size of the personal network on the other. For adolescents at local schools
and adolescents at special schools as well, the mean size of the personal
network was 15 persons. As for the composition of the network, for example,
the number of blind or visually impaired network members, several significant
differences were found. Adolescents at special schools had more blind and
visually impaired network members than adolescents at local schools. A
very strong effect was recorded in the case of the number of blind and
visually impaired friends/peers. From the total sample (N=316), 25% of
the friends were also blind or visually impaired. For the adolescents at
a special school, 36% of their friends were blind or visually impaired,
compared with only 7% for the adolescents who were always at a local school.
Are there any differences
with regard to the functional network aspects between attending classes
in regular or special education? The results of the study showed no differences
for the total amount of perceived social support or the balance between
receiving and giving support. The only relation with education was observed
for the kind of social support. In this study two kinds of social support
were distinguished: practical and emotional support. Adolescents
in special education perceived more emotional support than those in regular
education.
With regard to the
satisfaction with the support and the need for more support, no significant
differences were found between adolescents in regular or special education.
Sources of support
Are there any differences
with respect to the social support of different sources, between adolescents
in regular or special education?
There was one significant
difference between attending classes in regular or special education with
regard to the social support of family members: adolescents at a
special school perceived less social support of their brothers and sisters
than those at a regular school. The support of parents, grandparents, uncles
and nieces was comparable for adolescents in special or regular education.
With regard to the support of the formal network (social workers and teachers),
no significant differences between adolescents at regular and special schools
were found. The main variables that account for differences with regard
to support of the formal network, were gender and housing conditions. Female
participants perceived more support of formal network members than male
participants. Adolescents who lived in a residential center perceived more
support of teachers and social workers than the participants who lived
with their parents or on their own.
Conclusion
In this study, no significant
differences between adolescents in special and regular education with regard
to their psychosocial functioning were found. One tendency was recorded;
adolescents who attend or have attended classes in special education only,
used more often emotion focussed coping strategies than those who at some
time have attended classes in regular education. Variables that account
for differences in psychosocial functioning are: gender, age, the
kind and degree of the visual impairment and the level of independence
in mobility.
With regard to structural
and functional aspects of the personal network, several significant relations
with education were found. The most striking result was the low percentage
sighted friends and the high percentage blind and visually impaired friends
of adolescents at special schools. Integration in regular schools does
result in more contacts with sighted peers. No significant differences
were found for the size of the network. For the functional network aspects,
was found that adolescents in special education perceived more emotional
support than those in regular education. For the balance between support
giving and taking, the satisfaction with support and the need for more
support, no significant differences were found.
One interesting characteristic
of support of family members was found. Adolescents at a special school
perceived less social support from their brothers and sisters than those
at a regular school. It is conceivable that the different school situation
of siblings of the blind or visually impaired adolescents, go with different
interests and experiences, which may lead to less sibling-support. No differences
for the support of the theacher or social worker between adolescents at
a special school or a regular school were found.
Overall, very few
differences between adolescents at special schools and those at regular
schools with regard to psychosocial functioning and social contacts were
found.
Variables that did account
for differences in these domains were for example age, kind and degree
of the visual impairment, and the level of independence in mobility. More
results with regard to the importance of social contacts and social support
in adjustment to blindness or visual impairment, will be described in the
near future.
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Sabina Kef, M.A., doctoral
student, University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Wibautstraat
4, 1091 GM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel. 31 (0)20 - 525.15.66
Fax 31 (0)20 - 525.12.50 E-mail: sabina@educ.uva.nl