1Factors Influencing the Self-Determination of Transition-Age Youth With High-Incidence Disabilities

Recognizing the contributions of self-determination to improved outcomes for transition-age youth with disabilities, researchers are increasingly directing their efforts toward identifying factors associated with (a) these students ’ acquisition of skills that enhance self-determination and (b) educators ’ efforts to promote opportunities to be self-determined. This arti-cle examines the contributions of social skills and problem behaviors to the self-determination of 90 high school students with emotional disturbances and learning disabilities. Social skills were found to be a significant predictor of students’ capacity for self-determination, but were not associated with self-determination opportunities at school. Ratings of students’ problem behaviors added no additional predictive value. The association between these skill domains has important impli-cations for the design of meaningful transition experiences for these youth