A Comparison of Self-Presentation Tactics between Visually Impaired and Sighted Students

Abstract

The present study aimed to: (1) adapt an Arabic version of the Self Presentation Tactics (SPT) scale, (2) investigate the differences between visually impaired and sighted students in regards to SPT, and (3) explore the gender and degree of disability differences in visually impaired individual scores. In the first study data was collected from two groups of sighted students in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia in order to check the first aim. The first group consisted of 114 students (61 males and 53 females) in middle school, their ages were (15.95 ± 1.14) years old, the second group, consisted of 153 students (93 males and 60 females) from secondary school, their ages were (17.25 ± 0.85) years old. In the second study data was collected from two groups to check the second and third aims. The first group consisted of 85 (46 males and 39 females) visually impaired students; their ages were (17.15 ± 1.12) years old. The second group consisted of 95 (50 males and 45 females) sighted students; their ages were (16.88 ±1.13) years old. The current study used the SPT scale to check the aims. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and item-total correlations was used to check the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of SPT scale. ANOVA was run to explore the differences in SPT between visually impaired and sighted students and to investigate the effect of gender and degree of disability differences on SPT in visually impaired students. Results indicated that: (1) The Arabic version of the SPT scale had good psychometric properties, (2) sighted students had significantly higher scores than visually impaired students in defensive self-presentation tactics (DSPT), and (3) visually impaired males scored significantly higher in assertive selfpresentation tactics (ASPT).