ERIC Number: EJ1477637
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Aug
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-4669
EISSN: EISSN-1538-4764
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Examining the Associations between Motivation, Knowledge, Empowerment, Advocacy, and Civic Engagement among Parents of Individuals with Disabilities
Meghan M. Burke1; Chak Li1; Zach Rossetti2
Journal of Special Education, v59 n2 p113-122 2025
Parents of individuals with disabilities face many challenges in accessing appropriate school services for their offspring. While advocacy programs are becoming increasingly common, little is known about the nature of parent advocacy including its related constructs. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between motivation, special education knowledge, empowerment, three types of advocacy activities (i.e., individual, peer, and systemic), and civic engagement among 246 parents of children with disabilities using structural equation modeling. Results show that motivation leads to improved knowledge and empowerment. More than knowledge, empowerment significantly and positively correlates with individual advocacy. There is a linear relationship suggesting that individual advocacy informs peer advocacy and peer advocacy informs systemic advocacy. Finally, greater systemic advocacy positively and significantly correlated with greater civic engagement. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Descriptors: Parents, Children, Disabilities, Parent Attitudes, Advocacy, Special Education, Knowledge Level, Empowerment, Motivation, Citizen Participation
SAGE Publications and Hammill Institute on Disabilities. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Illinois; New Mexico; Maine; Louisiana; South Carolina; District of Columbia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; 2Boston University, MA, USA