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Research

Families Research

Families are essential to the Special Olympics movement, and share the research that shows how Special Olympics positively contributes to family members of athletes, too.

CHARTS AND GRAPHICS

Use and customize these charts and graphs to help illustrate some key research findings.

OVERVIEW

Share evidence of Special Olympics’ impact through these summaries of Special Olympics research that include ready-to-share printouts designed for Programs.

  • Best Stats for Families (PDF): This one pager provides the most compelling data points about Special Olympics families in easy-to-use bullet points and infographics.
  • Why Research Families (PDF): Families are an important source of support for people with intellectual disabilities, many of whom continue to live with their families into adulthood.
  • Benefits of Special Olympics to the Family (PDF): Evaluations have found that Special Olympics creates family networks, strengthens family relationships, raises expectations and builds knowledge.
  • Families - Key Findings (PDF): This section highlights some key findings across the research such as the majority of families report attending competitions and 75% of parents in the United States said that Special Olympics had a positive impact on their social relationships outside the family.

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Access research articles that go into more detail on some of the findings shared in the overview section.