What causes social avoidance in people with disabilities? A chain mediation model

To promote the mental well-being and social abilities of people with disabilities, this study explored the effect of discrimination perception on social avoidance and its intrinsic mechanisms. We recruited 367 people with disabilities in Chongqing, China. The results showed that perceived discrimination among people with disabilities positively predicted social avoidance, and negatively predicted self-esteem and the extraversion trait. Further, both self-esteem and extraversion not only played mediating roles separately in the relationship between perceived discrimination and social avoidance, but they also jointly acted in a chain mediating role. This indicated that discrimination perception not only directly predicted social avoidance among people with disabilities, but it also indirectly predicted social avoidance through self-esteem and the extraversion trait. These findings provide important empirical evidence and practical significance for understanding social avoidance in people with disabilities.