Social development of girls with a physical disability during adolescence: Parent perspectives

This study aims to investigate the parents' perspectives of the social experiences of their daughters with a physical disability during adolescence.

Parents of girls with a physical disability aged 7-26 were recruited through a combination of convenience, purposive, and snowball sampling. Semistructured interviews were conducted with respect to the experience of adolescence for their daughters. An interpretive phenomenological analysis was performed by three members of the research team with lived and clinical experience to identify superordinate and subordinate themes describing mother's perceptions of their daughter's social experiences during adolescence.

Interviews were conducted with 21 mothers and mother-like figures of daughters (Mdn_age = 11) with spina bifida (10), cerebral palsy (nine), spinal cord injury (one), and another physical disability (one). We identified six superordinate themes, each defined by several experiences. These include amplification of differences during puberty (increasing differences and self-consciousness regarding differences), barriers to peer friendships (lack of opportunities, difficulties relating to peers with disabilities, difficulties relating to peers without disabilities, and lack of comfort with peers), facilitators of peer relationships (family support, school environment, and social skills), romantic relationship interest (perceived age-appropriate interest, perceived immature interest, and lack of interest), romantic relationship opportunities (lack of opportunities, relationship experiences, and parental support), and stability of parent-child relationships (dependence on mothers, impact of disability, and desire for independence).

Mothers perceived their daughters with a physical disability experience increased disability awareness and variable challenges with peer relationships during adolescence. Regardless of the disability characteristics, mothers felt their daughters struggled to fully relate to peers both with and without disabilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).