Resilience in Students with Disabilities in Higher Education

Resilience has been recognized as a critical factor in facilitating student success. In this study, weexamined the influence of resilience on self-identification, academic satisfaction, contentment with thecurrent situation, well-being, career optimism, and confidence among 304 students with disabilitiesattending higher education institutions in Australia and the US. Utilizing the Connor-DavidsonResilience Scale (CD-RISC) and latent mixture modeling, we found that students in the High Resiliencegroup demonstrated significantly greater academic satisfaction compared to their Low Resiliencecounterparts. Additionally, students in the High Resilience group expressed increased satisfaction withtheir current accommodation, friendships, and studies. They also exhibited a significantly higher level ofwell-being. These findings are discussed, and implications for higher education are provided. Received: 18 December 2025 / Accepted: 18 February 2026 / Published: March 2026