ADJUSTMENT AFTER SPINAL-CORD INJURY - RELATIONSHIP TO GENDER AND RACE

The study of psychological adjustment after spinal cord injury (SCI) h as been limited by the use of easy-to-obtain participant samples that have included mostly young Caucasian males and by the lack of refined measures of adjustment. The two primary goals of the current study wer e: (1) to generate data on gender and race differences on subjective w ell-being (life satisfaction, adjustment, and problems) and (2) to dev elop an improved measure of subjective outcomes after SCI. A total of 362 participants from a southeastern rehabilitation center who were st ratified according to gender, race, and age at injury onset completed the Multidimensional Adjustment Profile (MAP). Ten subjective adjustme nt scales were developed from the MAP, nine of which were based on fac tor analysis of sets of 20 life satisfaction items and 31 problem item s. Compared with minority participants, Caucasian participants reporte d significantly higher levels of Career Satisfaction and fewer problem s with Skills Deficit and Financial Limitations. Interactions between gender and race were observed for three scales (Emotional Distress, Ph ysical Discomfort, and Adjustment), with more positive scores reported by minority males and Caucasian females. Results pointed to the impor tance of race differences in adaptation after SCI.