Self-concept of adults with visual impairments.

There currently is a small but developing body of research concerning the self-concept of children and adolescents with visual impairments. However, the self-concept of adults with visual impairments is largely uninvestigated. This paper will briefly define self-concept, review the literature on self-concept in persons with visual impairments, and present a study that extends this literature in several important ways.

Self-concept is defined as the manner in which an individual perceives himself or herself: one's self-concept influences the individual's behaviors (Fitts, 1965). Tuttle (1984) stated that although all individuals are susceptible to the same threats to the development of a positive self-concept, individuals with visual impairments are at an even greater risk. He stated that two factors, a sense of self-competence and the perceptions of others, were important in the individual's self-concept. Because individuals with a visual impairment are perceived as different by others, they were considered prone to develop a more negative sense of self. Much of the research has been undertaken using children and adolescents in educational settings.

Self-concept research on youngsters with visual impairments has yielded mixed results. One perspective has found a self-concept deficit among adolescents who had been main-streamed into public schools (Beaty, 1992). Beaty hypothesized that because of the presence of a visual impairment, participants were prone to feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. These feelings resulted in a self-concept deficit.

Other studies have found no such deficits among adolescents with visual impairments (Jervis, 1959; Obiakor & Stile, 1989). One potential cause for such a discrepancy between studies may be the populations from which the samples were drawn. The studies which found no discrepancy had samples from schools for the blind. In such a setting, participants might be less likely to feel different from their peers.

Other studies examining self-concept issues have looked at athletes with disabilities. Sherrill, Hinson, Gench, Kennedy, and Low (1990) found no self-concept decrement in youth athletes with visual impairments. Similarly, no differences were found when examining adult athletes with visual impairments (Sherrill & Gench et al., 1990; Mastro, Sherrill, Gench, & French, 1987). Although the athletes in these studies showed no decrements in self-concept, it should be pointed out that they were tested during the course of athletic competition, an area in which the participants excelled. As stated earlier, a sense of competence contributes to an individual's self-concept (Tuttle, 1984). Clearly, these athletes were examined in their field of excellence where their abilities could easily provide them with a very strong sense of competence. It should be kept in mind that these athletes were tested in settings where they were competing with other athletes with visual impairments and therefore might have been less likely to perceive themselves as being different.

To summarize, the literature demonstrates that individuals with visual impairments are able to hold a positive self-concept. Self-concept may depend on two possible factors. The first is the individual's perceived similarity to the group in which she/he operates. The second is whether or not that individual has some forum in which to demonstrate competence (i.e., the status of the person in some finite field such as athletics, music, etc.).

The Present Study

This study examined the self-concept of adults with visual impairments, an area which has currently received little attention. This study differs from other studies in several important ways. First, it examines college age adults, rather than children and adolescents. Second, it examines adults in a setting more readily available to adults with disabilities, and thus more generalizable (i.e., college as opposed to elite athletic competition). A third way in which the present study differs from others is that it allows for an examination of Tuttle's (1984) notion that sense of competence and similarity to the larger population is reflected in an individual's positive self-concept. The studies reviewed in this paper did not address these variables. For example, Beaty (1992) found a difference in self-concept scores in "regular" public schools, where feelings of being different had a higher potential for occurring. However, Beaty provided no information concerning competence. Obiakor and Stile (1989) and Jervis (1959) found no differences in self-concept; however, these studies were executed in residential schools for the blind where being different was less likely to occur. The Sherrill and Gench et al. (1990) and Mastro et al. (1987) athlete studies, which also found no differences, were also undertaken during the course of athletic competition for athletes with disabilities. Again, these athlete studies did not allow for direct comparisons with sighted athletes. The present study samples came from a university setting which included both students with visual impairments and students who were fully sighted. In accordance with Tuttle (1984), it was hypothesized that individuals with visual impairments might score lower (more negatively) on a measure of self-concept than those who were sighted. College grade point average (GPA) and intellectual functioning (IQ) were used to estimate academic competence.

Methods

Participants

Nineteen persons with visual impairments (the PVI group) and, for comparison, 19 individuals with normal vision (the Comp group) were tested. Participants were matched on age and gender. Age ranges were as follows: females 19-36; and males 20-36. Females made up 42.1% (n = 16) of the sample; males made up 57.9% (n = 22).

PVI group participants were obtained from a population of 28 University of North Texas (UNT) students registered as having a visual impairment. The PVI group consisted of 13 participants confirmed to be legally blind (visual acuity less than 20/200 or visual field less than 20 degrees), and six participants whose visual impairments were less severe but met the university's Office of Disability Accommodation requirement for [less than or equal to]20/70 vision in order to receive services (five of these six participants were known to have visual acuity of [less than or equal to]20/90). Members of the Comp group were recruited from UNT students enrolled in various undergraduate psychology courses. One member of the PVI group received extra credit for participating, 12 members (63%) of the Comp group received extra credit, and the remainder volunteered without remuneration. The majority of the participants were White, with the exception of one Hispanic female in each group and an African-American male in the Comp group.

Materials

Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. The counseling form of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) was used to measure self-concept. The TSCS is a 100 item self-report questionnaire. This instrument provides scores on five scales: Physical Self, Personal Self, Social Self, Family Self, and Moral/Ethical Self as well as a Total Positive (TP) score which is considered the most important index on the TSCS (Fitts, 1965). High scores on the TSCS are said to indicate a positive self-concept.

Test-retest reliability of the TP score is considered good at .92 (Fitts, 1965). Test-retest reliability for the instrument's scales are reported to be between .80 and .91; while internal consistency is .80 or better (Archambault, 1992).

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. The Information and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) were used as an estimate of participants' intellectual functioning. These two subtests are the most highly correlated with general intelligence, .81 and .85 respectively (Wechsler, 1981). Feingold (1982) concluded that IQ estimates derived from these two subtests from the WAIS were as valid as the Full Scale score. Sattler (1990) provided the method by which Full Scale IQ scores were extrapolated using this two subtest short form.

Demographic and Status Information. A questionnaire was used for gathering demographic and status data on: (a) nature of disability, (b) duration of disability, (c) visual capabilities, (d) education background, (e) work background, and (f) parents' work and education background.

Procedures

PVI group participants were matched on age and gender with Comp group counterparts. Participants were scheduled to complete the instruments at their convenience at the Psychology Clinic at a large southwestern U.S. university. Signed informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Following the acquisition of informed consent, all participants were asked to complete the brief demographic and status questionnaire in an interview format. All subjects were verbally administered this questionnaire as a scribe recorded their responses. Sighted participants did not respond to one item, which referred to visual status. All participants were then administered the Information and Vocabulary subtests of the WAIS-R. In order to more fully equate the results of the two groups, standardized administration procedures for the WAIS-R were altered even for the Comp group (i.e., they were not shown the prompt card of vocabulary words). Finally, all participants were administered the TSCS via an audio cassette recording. PVI group participants were provided with a means of recording their responses that insured privacy that equaled the non-impaired group. For example, one individual required a scribe to record his responses. This participant was provided with a set of headphones so that his scribe was unaware of the items to which he was responding. Another subject used a Perkins brailler to record her responses, which were later transferred to the appropriate answer form for scoring.

Results

Table 1 shows means, standard deviations, and t values for the demographic variables (age, IQ, and GPA). As can be seen, no statistically significant differences existed between these variables. These results (particularly GPA and IQ) suggest that the two groups are functioning at the same competence level.

Table 2 shows the means, standard deviations, and F values for all TSCS scores. A series of one-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) were calculated in order to determine the presence of differences between TSCS scores for the two groups. An alpha level of .05 was set to test for significance. Results indicated that the two groups did not differ significantly on any of the scores.

As the overall measure of self-concept, the Total Positive score was slightly higher for the Comp group than for the PVI group, as predicted; however, this difference was slight (7 points). The Comp group also scored higher than the PVI group on Physical Self, Moral/Ethical Self, Personal Self, and Self-Criticism (by .11 to 2.31 points). Conversely, the PVI group scored higher than the Comp group on Family Self and Social Self (by .31 and .63 points respectively). Again, none of these differences were statistically significant.

Discussion

The hypothesis that individuals with visual impairments would exhibit more negative self-concept scores than persons with full vision was not substantiated by the present study. The PVI group did not score significantly lower on a measure of self-concept than did their Comp group colleagues. These results were obtained despite the fact that the study was undertaken in a main-streamed college setting. In such a setting, the participants might have experienced a threat to their self-concepts as a result of being "different" from their sighted peers. However, the participants were examined in an academic context in which they demonstrated competence (as measured by IQ and GPA) comparable to their sighted peers. Unlike the previously cited athlete studies, the present study examined competence in the context of a mainstreamed setting and still no discrepancy was found. These results suggest that, at least during this age group, a sense of competence may be more important than a perception of being similar to the larger group. However, it is possible that developmental and maturational processes could have contributed to these results.

There are at least two possible ways in which the age of the participants could have diminished the importance of perceiving oneself as different. First, it is generally known that adolescents are far more concerned with "fitting in" than are adults. Perhaps as people grow older, they come to realize that being different is not as bad as they once thought and this realization is reflected in a more adaptive self-concept. However, there is a second alternative interpretation. It could be the case that only those persons with visual impairment who already possess a more positive self-concept will pursue and succeed in college. The smaller standard deviations of the PVI group relative to the Comp group on the TSCS (see Table 2) support this interpretation. The PVI group in this study was more homogeneous in self-concept than the Comp group, possibly indicating differential selection factors for the two groups in terms of pursuing college. Future studies in this area should attempt to uncover which, if either, of these factors is at work. Longitudinal studies which track both college bound and non-college bound visually-impaired students would help to address this question.

Table 1

Demographic and Status Information

Variable              PVI        Comp      df       t        p

AGE          M       24.26      24.58      36     -0.17     .86
             SD       5.80       5.39

IQ           M      106.26     100.21      36      1.69     .10
             SD      11.38      10.65

GPA          M        3.11       2.97      24      0.62     .54
             SD       0.56       0.61

SES          M       46.42      45.13      33      0.32     .75
             SD      12.57      10.67

Note. PVI = persons with visual impairment, Conap = comparison
group, GPA = grade-point average, SES = socioeconomic status (rating
as per Hollingshead, 1975).
Table 2

TSCS Information

Variable              PVI        Comp      df        F        p

TP           M      334.32     341.32     1, 36     0.25     .62
             SD      35.65      49.22

PHS          M       62.95      65.26     1, 36     0.98     .33
             SD       7.71      10.75

MES          M       70.37      71.79     1, 36     0.17     .68
             SD       7.95      12.80

PES          M       64.95      66.63     1, 36     0.25     .62
             SD       8.14      12.10

FAS          M       69.42      69.11     1, 36     0.01     .93
             SD       9.03      13.28

SOS          M       36.21      35.58     1, 36     1.07     .31
             SD      10.17      11.41

SCR          M       35.47      35.58     1, 36     0.01     .97
             SD       4.79      11.41

Note. PVI = persons with visual impairment, Conap = comparison
group, TSCS = Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, TP = TSCS Total
Positive, PHS = TSCS Physical Self MES = TSCS Moral/Ethical Self,
PES = TSCS Personal Self, FAS = TSCS Family Self, SOS = TSCS Social
Self, SCR = TSCS Self-Criticism.

To further explore how individuals within the PVI group might have varied in a way that could account for nil findings, the group was broken down into persons with congenital (n = 10) versus adventitious (n = 8; this datum was missing for one participant impairment). The mean Total Positive self-concept scores were practically identical (335.70 and 337.13 respectively) yielding an insignificant analysis of variance (F(1, 16) = 1.21, p = .82). Thus it does not seem reasonable to suggest that chronicity of the impairment is influencing the lack of self-concept differences between persons with and without a visual impairment.

The results of the present study suggest that the presence of a visual impairment does not necessitate a negative self-concept. Although there are mixed findings among children and adolescents, further studies with the considerations suggested in this paper should serve to clarify this situation. For example, studying adults with visual impairment in multiple and non-academic settings would clarify the generality of the current findings. However, when examining the results of the present study with those of Obiakor and Stile (1986) and Jervis (1959), the question of how visual impairment affects adult self-concept may be close to resolution. Even if further work on the problem among adolescents determines that a difference does exist, the present study offers the tentative conclusion that a negative self-concept does not necessarily follow the individual with a visual impairment into adulthood.

The present findings have some basic and broad implications for educators and rehabilitation counselors who work with persons with visual impairments, particularly those pursuing college educations. There may exist a tacit assumption that persons with visual impairments need bolstering of the self-concept in order to effectively cope with the challenges of higher education. These results would suggest that such an assumption is not warranted on a routine basis. Although some individuals might indeed benefit from a general level of support and encouragement, rehabilitation time and resources might be better concentrated differently with most persons with visual impairment - such as on the adaptational challenges presented by academic settings, on the acquisition of available facilitative technology, and on the familiarization with often-changing physical and political structures in the academic environment. Some college students with a visual impairment (just as some fully-sighted college students), for a variety of reasons not solely related to the impairment, might require additional emotional bolstering; however, this should be seen as the exception rather than the rule.

References

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