Predictors Of Psychological Well-Being Among Persons With Physical Disabilities In Southern Nigeria: The Roles Of Gender Self-Confidence And Social Inclusion

Abstract

Background: Gender self-confidence may protect the well-being of persons with physical disabilities, but Nigerian evidence is sparse.

Objectives: This study examined whether gender self-definition (GSD), gender self-acceptance (GSA), social inclusion, employment, and educational level predict psychological well-being among adults with physical disabilities in Southern Nigeria.

Method: A cross-sectional survey of 1,865 participants used Ryff's 18-item Scales, the Hoffman Gender Scale scored by subscale, and a 10-item social inclusion measure. Missing data were multiply imputed (m = 20) and pooled using Rubin's rules.

Results: Well-being was significantly below the scale midpoint (d = -0.64). Entered simultaneously, GSD positively predicted well-being (beta = .24, p < .001) and GSA inversely (beta = -.19, p < .001), a suppressor pattern given their intercorrelation (r = .85). These opposing coefficients emerged only when the two subscales were entered together; in separate models, GSD retained a smaller positive effect (b = 0.06, p = .002) while GSA was non-significant (p = .496). The GSA result should therefore be interpreted as a statistical artefact of very high collinearity rather than as evidence of a substantive inverse effect. Educational level and age showed small negative associations.

Conclusion: Gender self-definition and self-acceptance should not be regarded as independent determinants of psychological well-being. Conventional demographic characteristics such as education and employment likewise offered little protection. These conclusions are necessarily tentative: the final model explained only 2.4% of the variance in well-being, and replication with longitudinal data is required before drawing any intervention or policy inferences.