Although the percentage of women who sustain spinal cord injuries is small, understanding how the individual’s personality and gender influence behavior and, once injured, how these variables influence long-term outcomes can provide important information about how to better design and guide rehabilitation services for women with spinal cord injuries. This study used an existing data set from a larger study on the health behaviors of people with spinal cord injury to identify and categorize females and males by etiology of injury into three distinct categories: innocent victims, passively injured, and actively injured. Using the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ), univariate analyses of variance were conducted for females and males in the three injury categories on scores for the Impulsive Sensation Seeking, Neuroticism-Anxiety, Aggression-Hostility, Activity, and Sociability scales. Additionally, ZKPQ scores were analyzed solely for females in the three injury groups. These analyses provided a comparison of personality variables between females and males, and among females, based on etiology of injury. Using the framework of the social cognitive theory of behavior and social role theory, this study examined the reciprocal relationships among the individual’s personality, their behavior, and their social and cultural environments. This information provides the groundwork necessary to further explore how personality factors, behavior, and gender influence not only the method of injury but also adjustment to the injury.
Learning Objectives: Identify the link between personality and spinal cord injury Define the relationship of gender to personality and onset of spinal cord injury Assess the implications of gender, personality, and spinal cord injury to rehabilitation
Keywords: Disability, Gender
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.