Peer Acceptance and the Emotional Well-Being of Disabled Individuals

This study is about how knowing someone with a disability affects an individual’s level of acceptance for others who have a disability. In addition, this paper will also look at previous research on how different levels of peer acceptance affect the emotional well-being of those with disabilities. Under the supervision of our professor and the university staff, my classmates from Methods of Sociological Research at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and I compiled a list of research questions pertaining to our individual studies and sent the link to our Qualtrics survey to approximately 300 other UNH students via Facebook messages and emails. I measured respondents’ acceptance of those with disabilities by asking respondents how likely they thought they were to become friends with someone who has a disability. My findings regarding contact with someone with a disability and one’s general acceptance toward others with a disability show a significant relationship between knowing someone with a disability and being more accepting of disability in general