Self-esteem as mediator and moderator of the relationship between stigma perception and social alienation of Chinese adults with disability.

Background: Several studies show the relationship between self-esteem and stigma perception and also between self-esteem and social alienation, but none sufficiently analyze the relationship between stigma perception and social alienation of people with disability.

Objective/hypothesis: The primary aim of this paper is to investigate the mediator and moderator effects of self-esteem on the relationship between stigma perception and social alienation of people with disability.

Methods: The participants were 129 adults with disability (80 males and 49 females) from eight communities in China. Data was collected by using the stigma perception scale, self-esteem scale, social avoidance scale, social anxiety subscale of the self-consciousness scale, and loneliness scale. Each item is rated on a 5-point scale (1 = "strongly disagree" to 5 = "strongly agree").

Results: Stigma perception was positively correlated with social avoidance (p < 0.001), social anxiety (p < 0.001), and loneliness (p < 0.001). Self-esteem was inversely correlated with social avoidance (p < 0.001), social anxiety (p < 0.001), loneliness (p < 0.001), and stigma perception (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between stigma perception and social avoidance, social anxiety and loneliness. Moreover, self-esteem moderated the relationship between stigma perception and social avoidance, but not on social anxiety and loneliness.