Transition Engagement of African American Youth With Disabilities: A Serial Mediation Model

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to draw from self-determination and self-efficacy theories to evaluate psychological constructs (autonomous motivation, competency, and outcome expectancy) as mediators of the relationship between working alliance and engagement in transition–vocational rehabilitation (VR) services among African American students with disabilities. A serial multiple mediation analysis was computed to evaluate the mediators of transition-VR service engagement in a sample of 88 African American high school students with disabilities. We found that working alliance was positively associated with active engagement in transition-VR services (total effect), whereas the direct effect of working alliance on engagement was not significant after controlling for the effects of autonomous motivation, competency, and outcome expectancy, supporting significant mediation effects. Findings suggest that a strong working alliance between students and rehabilitation counselors and transition specialists can foster autonomous motivation, competency, and outcome expectancy, resulting in higher levels of engagement in transition-VR services.

Unraveling the factors influencing engagement in vocational rehabilitation services among transition-age Hispanic youth: An exploratory study

“…Among VR consumers, the constructs of autonomy, competency, relatedness, and outcome expectancy were positively associated with VR engagement (Dutta et al, 2017;. Similarly, among transition-age African American youth with disabilities, working alliance (i.e., relatedness) was positively associated with VR engagement (Dutta et al, 2020). Thus, findings of these studies suggest that both SDT and SCT help understand the motivation of individuals with disabilities to engage in VR services.…”

“…Various research studies have investigated the engagement in VR services among individuals with disabilities (e.g., Dutta et al, 2017Dutta et al, , 2020. Specifically, the theoretical frameworks of Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2002;Ryan & Deci, 2000) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT; Bandura, 2004) have been utilized as frameworks to better understand the engagement process of individuals with disabilities in VR services.…”