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

To analyze the consequences for self-esteem of perceived discrimination against people with physical disabilities, as individuals and as a group.

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.

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.

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).