Adjustment after spinal cord injury: Relationship to participation in employment or educational activities

The purpose of this study was to compare the life adjustment of participants with spinal chord injury (SCI) who were either (a) gainfully employed, (b) unemployed, but attending school, or (c) unemployed and not attending school. The Multidimensional Adjustment Profile (MAP) was administered to a sample of 362 participants. Multivariate analyses of variance with follow-up Bonferroni correction was used to compare scores on seven outcomes scales between the three groups. The employed participants reported superior adjustment scores to the unemployed/nonstudents on 4 of the 7 scales, but superior scores to the students on only one scale-Career Satisfaction. In contrast to the unemployed/nonstudents, the students reported higher overall adjustment scores and fewer problems with skills deficit. Results point to the strong association of both education and employment with quality of life after SCI.