THE SELF-CONCEPT OF YOUNG-PEOPLE WITH SPINA-BIFIDA - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY

Seventy-nine young people with spina bifida were given a psychological , medical, carer and occupational therapy assessment. 79 matched able- bodied young people received the psychosocial interview. The disabled group felt themselves to be less competent in academic, athletic and s ocial aspects of self-concept, less supported by classmates, equally s upported by parents and friends and more supported by teachers than th e able-bodied group. Disabled subjects did not discount the importance of any area of personal-social functioning, and experienced greater d iscrepancies between competence and importance in most academic, athle tic, social and physical appearance aspects of self-concept. Disabled girls assigned very high importance to physical appearance. Physical a ppearance was more strongly associated with general self-esteem than a ny other area of self-concept.