CHARACTERIZATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING, SELF-ESTEEM AND DEPRESSION AMONG THE DISABLED

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to compare by sex, age, type of disability, time of incidence, duration of disability, number of siblings, the practice of physical activity, and its regularity. The dependent variables were: well-being, self-esteem, and depression in individuals with disabilities in the interior North of Portugal. The sample consisted of 36 subjects of both sexes (19 males: 17 female) with ages comprehended between 18 and 54 years old. The results showed that the psychological well-being presents accentuated variations according to the duration of disability (p = .02); level of physical activity in the negative experience (p = .03); to the age group at positive affects (p = .04), and the number of siblings at positive affects (p = .03). Concerning self-esteem, no differences were found (p > .05). Several differences were found in the case of depression presents, namely for: duration of disability at the level of cognitive deficiency (p = .03); practice of physical activity at the level of cognitive deficiency (p = .01), negative affects (p = .05) and negative self-assessment (p = .01); regularity of physical activity at the level of cognitive deficiency (p = .01) and negative self-assessment (p = .02). We can conclude that at the level of psychological well-being, the age group, the duration of disability, the practice of physical activity, and the number of siblings presented differences between groups. Still, these were not related to the sex, the type of disability, time of incidence, and regularity of physical activity.