Social Support and Self-esteem among Adolescents with Visual Impairments

The social support and self-esteem of 115 adolescents with visual impairments (who were blind or had low vision) who attended mainstream Finnish schools and a control group of 607 sighted classmates of 66 visually impaired adolescents were assessed using a self-report questionnaire. The study found that the self-esteem of the sighted and visually impaired adolescents did not differ and that relationships with friends significantly contributed to the enhancement of the self-esteem of the adolescents with visual impairments.