Functional clothing use by male amputees in relation to self concept and clothing attitudes

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the use of functional clothing by lower-extremity-amputee male adults and (1) self concept and (2) attitudes and opinions about the use of functional clothing. The symbolic interaction theory was the framework used for examining these relationships.

The subjects were 15 lower-extremity-amputee male adults between the ages of 19 and 65. A Functional Clothing Measure, with eleven sets of clothing diagrams, was developed to determine use. Each set included a functional clothing item and a regular (ready to wear) clothing item. The Tennessee Self Concept Scale was used to measure self concept. A Clothing Opinionnaire, consisting of 18 statements, was developed to measure the attitudes and opinions about the functional use and psychological aspects of clothing. Statistical procedures included correlation and analysis of variance.

Results revealed no difference between the use of functional clothing and self concept; between the use of functional clothing and attitudes about the use of functional clothing; and between self concept and attitudes about the use of functional clothing. Analysis of the data indicated that the lower-extremity-amputee male adults wore more regular clothing than functional clothing, and that all the self concept scores were high. The. findings infer that the subjects wore clothing items that were the same as the significant others with whom they interact. The subjects did not desire to dress differently than others in their society.