Abstract
A subsample of 713 students was selected from a nationwide stratified probability sample of 8,404 students with disabilities attending U.S. high schools in 1985. In-school and out-of-school information about these students was obtained in 1987 from their school records, school personnel, and parents. Conventional item analysis procedures were used to construct three quality-of-life composites—esteem, independence, and support—from 17 questionnaire variables. These composites were related to 28 geo-economic, family, demographic, cognitive, disability, and school program variables using a canonical correlation. The sum of three redundancy coefficients from the canonical analysis indicated that the predictors accounted for 36.9% of the variance in the three quality-of-life composites taken in concert, from which 5.3% was attributed uniquely to school program variables. The three canonical dimensions were labeled “general competence,” “sensory disability,” and “valued support” because of the patterns of quality-of-life variables and predictor variables with which they correlated. These analyses implied that quality of life for individuals with disabilities is difficult to disentangle from competence. However, the data set used for the present study included very few quality-of-life variables that are not related to competence—such as students' satisfaction with their lifestyles or students' freedom to make their own choices—making it difficult to detect these dimensions.
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