Citation
Johnston, Laura E (2024). Are There Racial Disparities in The Influence of Special Education on Mental Health During the Transition to Adulthood?.Abstract
It is estimated that about 7.3 million (or about 15%) public school students are currently enrolledin Special Education in the United States, and their enrollment has increased steadily over the
past decade (U.S. Department of Education 2023). Students in Special Education can be labeled
as ‘different’ and/or ‘disabled’. These labels may be internalized by students, leading to lower
self-esteem and experiencing symptoms of depression. My dissertation aims to uncover the
possible link between enrollment in Special Education and mental health in adolescence into
emerging adulthood, and the differences for Black students and white students. I take into
consideration school contextual variables (school satisfaction, student prejudice, teacher
unfairness, and expulsion), which may impact the mental health of students and help to further
explain the experiences of labeling that students may encounter in the school environment.
Additionally, I include resiliency factors (social support and educational expectations), which
may help to alleviate the stress that students experience from being labeled a ‘Sped kid’ in
school. Using national longitudinal data, my regression results suggest that enrollment in Special
Education or having a learning disability is associated with lower self-esteem and higher levels
of depressive symptoms in adolescence. My subsample analyses discover differences in school
context and resilience between Blacks and whites and between those enrolled in Special
Education and not. These findings expand our knowledge of racial disparities and the social
determinants of mental health. Depression is one of the most frequently occurring mental health
problems among adolescents, therefore it is urgent to alleviate the distress experienced by
students and to explore the implications of stigmatizing labels, which harm mental health