1. The Impact of Role Models on Life Outcomes of People With Disabilities Felix Wu, Rachel C. E. Trump, Christy Nittrouer & Mikki Hebl Rice University
BACKGROUND ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ROLE MODELS
RESULTS: UNEXPECTED SELF-EFFICACY RATINGS
Previous Results: The hypothesis was not supported by the results. Using a 2 x 2 MANOVA, there was no interaction between disability and role model condition, F(1,92)=0.570,η^2=0.006, (p=.45). However, in previous studies marginally significant results were found for this effect. Nonetheless, it is interesting to find that those with (M=2.521) and without disabilities (M=2.741) who had role models had lower self-efficacy ratings than those with (M=3.269) and without (M=3.168) disabilities who did not have role models. See the figure 1 (*contains means from MANOVA).
American with Disabilities 1990 Act served to protect people with disabilities (PWD) in the workplace and higher education
However, in the Wagner and Blackorby 1996 study:
Role models may be a solution!
Lockwood and Kunda 1997 study showed that people without disabilities who have role models had more positive self-image than those who did not.
Current study wants to observe correlation between role models and life outcomes for those with disabilities.
HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis: People with disabilities (PWD) who have role models are able to achieve better life outcomes than those who do not have role models.
METHOD: LIFE OUTCOMES SURVEY
Participants: We collected data for 102 participants (26 Males, 76 Females). Among them,71 individuals have a disability, and 30 individuals do not have a disability. Majority of those who are disabled are blind individuals. All participants were 18 years old or older.
Materials: The material used was a survey created on Qualtrics, which was accessed through an internet link. The survey included measures of the following:
Self-Efficacy
Physical Well-Being
Mental Well-being
Demographics: This included their ethnicity, race, gender, highest education, job title, salary, current location and location raised.
Role model questions
These questions were in the forms of rating scales, multiple choice questions and free response questions.
DISCUSSION: WHAT DO THESE RESULTS MEAN?
REFERENCES
The results did not support the hypothesis of this study, but rather demonstrated completely contradictory findings. These particular results focused on the particular life outcome of Self-efficacy. Previous data revealed that people with disabilities (PWD) without role models actually had the higher self-efficacy than those do. However, in the current data, we found that people who had role models overall had lower self-efficacy.
In the Lockwood & Kunda (1997) study, they mentioned that the effects of role models on an individual are more effective if they are similar to the individual. Therefore, the findings from the current study may be due to the participants’ lack of role models similar to themselves. Furthermore, the sample collected was quite skewed in its distribution, we mostly recruited blind individuals for those with disabilities. This may result in some confounding variables.
Finally, perhaps role models are not as effective as previously thought for both individuals with and without disabilities. In other words, maybe other factors such as social support may increase self-efficacy more. Therefore, future studies will investigate these other factors.
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Lockwood, P., & Kunda, Z. (1997). Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self. Journal of personality and social psychology,73(1), 91.
O’Brien, K. R., McAbee, S. T., Hebl, M. R., & Rodgers, J. R. (2016). The Impact of Interpersonal Discrimination and Stress on Health and Performance for Early Career STEM Academicians. Frontiers in psychology, 7.
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Wagner, M. M., & Blackorby, J. (1996). Transition from high school to work or college: How special education students fare. The Future of Children,
Procedure: For participants at the disability conventions, they were handed flyers with a short description of the study as well as who was qualified for this study and a link to the survey. For online participants, they just clicked the link directly to the survey. Then they proceeded to take the survey at their convenience. After the study was complete, the findings will be shared with the participants. These participants were recruited through multiple methods, which includes snowball sampling, listservs, and physically distributing the flyers.
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Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Alex Wu, Rebecca Godard, Anamely Salgado, Elif Dunbar, Ashley W. Cummings for helping with the data collection.