Self-Advocacy Skills in Asian American Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Pilot Study.

The level of self-advocacy skills in Asian American parents of young children with developmental disabilities was assessed. The relationship of self-advocacy skills with social support and with disability-based discrimination was investigated. Correlates of self-advocacy skills were explored. Asian American parents of young children with developmental disabilities in this study scored a significantly lower level of assertiveness and other self-advocacy skills than did their non-Asian American counterparts. The level of self-advocacy skills in Asian American parents was found to be positively correlated with the level of social support those parents had received, and negatively correlated with the level of disability-based discrimination against their children with developmental disabilities. Longer length of stay of Asian American parents in the United States was found to he associated with a higher level of self-advocacy skills. The practical implications of the findings of this study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]