Profiling Adjustment Among Postsecondary Students With Disabilities: A Person-Centered Approach

The current investigation examines profiles of postsecondary adjustment among college students with disabilities. Students' self-perceptions of practical gains, personal gains, educational gains, their overall satisfaction with postsecondary school, and their college GPA were subjected to a latent profile analysis. Results indicated that students fell into 1 of 3 profiles (i.e., poorly adjusted, average adjusted, or highly adjusted) but were overrepresented in the poorly adjusted profile. Follow-up analyses conducted to explore skills and processes associated with adjustment status indicated that students in the poorly adjusted group had significantly lower self-efficacy, self-advocacy, family support, and perceptions of campus climate than did students in the average and highly adjusted groups. Adjustment profiles did not differ on several other theoretically relevant variables, including time spent studying, high school GPA, disability supports, and financial stress. The implications of these findings for secondary special education teachers, university disability support personnel, and postsecondary students with disabilities are discussed.