Affiliations: [a] Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA | [b] Crawford Research Institute, Shepherd Center, Atlanta, GA, USA | [c] Department of Psychology, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Research Associate, World Institute on Disability, 510 16th Street, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. Tel.: +1 510 251 4333; Fax: +1 510 742 1650; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Sexual adjustment, defined within this study as post-injury sexual views of the self, among 109 men and 86 women with spinal cord injury (SCI) was explored through cognitive adaptation theory [30]. It was predicted that cognitive adaptation constructs (i.e., personal control, optimism, meaning, and self-esteem) and sexual self-esteem would be predictive of sexual adjustment. It was also hypothesized that sexual self-esteem would be predictive of sexual adjustment over and above cognitive adaptation constructs. A series of hierarchical regression models were performed with results being consistent with proposed hypotheses. Implications for rehabilitation professionals are discussed and clinical suggestions are provided.
Keywords: disability, spinal cord injury, sexual self-esteem, sexuality, rehabilitation
