The Use of Athletics to Lessen the Negative Impacts Bullying Has on Self-Esteem Among Adolescents with Disabilities Who Are Victims of Bullying

Students with Disabilities struggle or encounter bullying. Past studies have indicated that participating in athletic extracurricular activities can have several socio-emotional benefits for students with disabilities. Given the findings of past studies demonstrating the positive relationship between mental health and participation in sports among students with disabilities, it is possible that participating in athletics could have a moderating relationship on the severity of the impact that bullying has on a student’s self-esteem. Using the National Crime Victimization Survey/School Crime Supplement (NCVS/SCS), this study employs an ordinal logistic regression to determine if participation in athletic extracurricular activities mitigate the negative impact bullying has on self-esteem among students who have disabilities. With a sample of 728 middle to high-school-aged students with disabilities, this study identified statistically significant results suggesting that students with disabilities who participate in athletics reported reduced levels of negative low self-esteem resulting from bullying compared to their peers who did not participate in athletics.