Consequences of perceived personal and group discrimination against people with physical disabilities.

Abstract

To analyze the consequences for self-esteem of perceived discrimination against people with physical disabilities, as individuals and as a group. Method: A structural model based on the psychosocial literature was tested in a sample of 288 Spanish participants with different degrees of physical disability. This model predicted that personal perceived discrimination would be associated with the internalization of stigma that, in turn, would be negatively associated with the self-esteem of people with physical disabilities. On the other hand, group perceived discrimination, was predicted to enhance group identification and promote intention to contribute to collective action and hence have a beneficial effect on the self-esteem of people with physical disabilities. Results: The model provided a good fit to the data. The relationship between personal discrimination and the self-esteem of people with physical disabilities was completely mediated by internalized stigma. The model also showed that group perceived discrimination had only an indirect effect on self-esteem. Conclusion: This research makes two main contributions. From a theoretical perspective we found that perceived personal and group discrimination influence self-esteem through different paths. From an applied point of view, our results may contribute to the design of interventions to enhance the quality of life of people with physical disabilities. Impact and ImplicationsOur results underline that the perception of personal discrimination is negatively related to the self-esteem of people with physical disabilities. This association is totally mediated by internalized stigma; in other words, in people with physical disabilities who accept the negative social stereotype of their group, the perception that one has been discriminated against has a negative impact on self-esteem. We also found that group perceived discrimination had a smaller, indirect effect on self-esteem via effects on in-group identification and collective action intentions. Our results can be used in the design of interventions to enhance the self-esteem of people with physical disabilities. At the individual level such interventions should focus on preventing the internalization of the stigma and at the group level on encouraging group identification and increasing participation in associations.

People with physical disability in Serbia: Relationship between internalized stigma, experienced and anticipated discrimination, and empowerment

“…These results are in line with findings of studies with people with mental illness which showed that perceived discrimination was a predictor of internalized stigma (Brohan et al ., ). Similarly, in the sample of people with physical disabilities, personal perceived discrimination had positive direct effect on internalized stigma (Molero et al ., ).…”

“…The authors emphasized that participants with physical disabilities showed different levels of internalized stigma on each scale and that additional research is needed to examine internalized stigma among this group of people. Spanish study showed that internalized stigma had mediating effect between personal discrimination and self-esteem, as well as direct effect on self-esteem in people with physical disabilities (Molero et al, 2019). Taft, Ballou and Keefer's (2013) study conducted with people with inflammatory bowel disease goes along with findings that internalized stigma has a negative effect.…”

“…Literature suggests that if a stigmatized person agrees with perceived negative public attitudes, it can lead to its internalization, which results in self‐stigma or internalized stigma (Corrigan & Watson, ; Link, Struening, Neese‐Todd, Asmussen & Phelan, ). Although a rich body of literature has been focusing on internalized stigma of people with mental illness for the past two decades (Livingston & Boyd, ; Ritsher, Otilingam & Grajales, ; Watson, Corrigan, Larson & Sells, ), research employing people with physical disabilities and internalized stigma has been limited to the current date (Kowalski & Peipert, ; Molero, Recio, García‐Ael & Pérez‐Garín, ).…”

Psychological Quality of Life in People with Physical Disability: The Effect of Internalized Stigma, Collective Action and Resilience

“…Stigma scale for chronic illness 9-item version (SSCI-9). The Spanish adaptation of the internalized stigma subscale of the SSCI [92], which had shown adequate psychometric properties in a of people with different disabilities, was used for the research [93,94]. Example items are "Because of my illness, I feel emotionally distant from other people" and "Because of my illness, I feel embarrassed in social situations".…”

Managers’ Conceptions and Their Effects on the Perception of Employees with Disabilities

“…In Nigeria, the existence of widespread discrimination against PWDs in terms of job access and security has been identified [ 36 ]. In Spain, personal and group discrimination has been shown to harm self-esteem of PWDs in various ways [ 37 ].…”