Social Support and Self-Esteem as Predictors of Psychological Distress among Students with Learning Disabilities in Accra, Ghana

Clarice Jobson-Mitchual

doi:10.34257/gjhssavol21is8pg1

Abstract

Using a survey research design, this study examined the extent to which social support and self-esteem predict psychological distress among students with learning disabilities at Multi Kids Inclusive Academy in Accra, Ghana. The Simple Random Sampling technique was used to select 94 students. Survey questionnaires containing the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (Malecki & Demaray, 2002), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and Adapted Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Dagnan & Sandhu, 1999) were used to collected data. Descriptive statistics, Reliability and Normality tests, Simple Linear Regression Analysis, and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient test within the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 application software were used to analyze data. Results indicated that Social Support from Teachers (β= .202, p = .033) and Social Support from Classmates (β= .548, p = .000) predicts psychological distress. Social Support from Parents Dimension subscale (β= -.024, p = .810), did not predict psychological distress. In addition, a significant negative relationship was found between self-concept and psychological distress. Also, differences in gender (β= -.238, p = .033) and age (β= .266, p = .017) predicts psychological distress.

Highlights

Using a survey research design, this study examined disabilities usually struggle with negative self-concept, the extent to which social support and self-esteem predict have little motivation to invest more effort in their psychological distress among students with learning academic work, causing a decline in their disabilities at Multi Kids Inclusive Academy in Accra, Ghana
Social support students with disabilities in learning receive from their teachers and classmates, and positive self-concept protect them against psychological distress
90.4% of respondents were between ages 10 to years whiles 9.6% were between the ages of and 18years

Summary

Introduction

Using a survey research design, this study examined disabilities usually struggle with negative self-concept, the extent to which social support and self-esteem predict have little motivation to invest more effort in their psychological distress among students with learning academic work, causing a decline in their disabilities at Multi Kids Inclusive Academy in Accra, Ghana. Social support students with disabilities in learning receive from their teachers and classmates, and positive self-concept protect them against psychological distress (i.e. depression, anxiety and stress). The most common forms of learning disabilities negatively affect writing, mathematical abilities and reading among students These may be associated with other conditions like language problem, attention disorders, and behavior problems. Going to school, studying, writing exams, among other activities captured under school-life is one of the most stress-inducing areas in the lives of young people (Khan, 2016) This is especially so among students with learning disabilities because their deficiencies make their teaching and learning more challenging (Wiesner-Groff, 2021), this requires more psychosocial support (Cavioni, Grazzani & Ornaghi, 2017). Students with Auditory Processing disorder (central auditory processing disorder) are

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