Emotional Support as a Lifeline: Promoting the Sustainability of Quality of Life for College Students with Disabilities Facing Mental Health Disorders

Drawing on Social Support Theory, this research makes a new attempt to examine the moderating role of emotional support for students with disability in the link from mental health disorder to a sustained quality of life. Responses from 620 students with disabilities were analyzed with SEM analysis using Smart PLS. The results showed a direct negative impact of stress, depression, and anxiety on the QoL of disabled students. Additionally, the results confirmed a moderating role of emotional support in the link between stress, anxiety, and QoL among disabled students. This means that emotional support was able to mitigate the negative impact of both stress and anxiety on the QoL of disabled students. However, the results did not confirm the moderate role of depression in this relationship. This means that emotional support given to students with disabilities was not enough to mitigate the negative impact of depression on the sustained QoL of disabled students. It also means that there are other support structures and interventions needed to mitigate the negative impact of depression on the QoL among disabled students. Implications of the results are thus elaborated.