Children’s Reactions to Physical Disability: A Cross-national and Developmental Study

Abstract

This study examined reactions to physical disability among 5th and 11th graders in the United States and Japan. Students were presented with a drawing of four children standing next to a child in a wheelchair, and told that this group was going swimming. Students were asked to describe and explain their feelings, rst, as the disabled person, and then as a nondisabled group member. Although cultural differences in speci c response categories were found in both hypothetical roles, on the whole, Japanese and American children appeared to be more similar than different in their reactions to physical disability. Patterns of developmental differences, however, varied by culture. Japanese adolescents were more likely than their younger peers to worry about imposing on others in the disabled role, whereas Japanese 5th graders were more likely than 11th graders to make empathic responses in the interactant role. In addition, there was a tendency for more American 11th than 5th graders to express embarrassment in the disabled role. Findings are discussed in terms of Goffman's (1963) model of "stigma", the individualismcollectivism paradigm, and theories of cognitive development.

Concepts of deviance and disturbance in children and adolescents: A comparison between the United States and Japan

“…Given that signi® cant differences have been found to exist between adults' and children's perceptions of deviance (Crystal & Stevenson, 1995), these seemingly counterstereotypical ® ndings may be due to the present study having targeted children and adolescents, rather than adults and college students upon whom, as noted earlier, the great majority of studies in the I/C literature are based (e.g., Berry, 1967Berry, , 1979. Other crossnational studies on children's reactions to deviance-relate d phenomena have also documented results that do not ® t I/C stereotypes (Crystal, Watanabe, & Chen, 1999). Also, although Japanese tend to exhibit conspicuously``collectivistic' ' and conforming behaviour when among in-group members, when among strangers, such as in an Asch-type situation, they are reported to be more likely to resist social pressures than their American counterparts (Larsen, 1990;Williams & Sogon, 1984).…”

Measuring children's attitudes towards peers with disabilities: a review of instruments

“…Three instruments (Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children, 30 Acceptance Scale for Kindergarteners, 14,31 and Pictographic Scale 32,33 ) were excluded because they were developed for use with preschool-age children. One instrument (Children's Attitudes Towards Integrated Physical Education 34 ) was excluded because it measured attitudes towards integration rather than attitudes towards children with disabilities; one (Test of Attitudes Towards Children with Disabilities [35][36][37][38][39] ) was not used because there was insufficient information available; and four instruments 13,15,17,40 were excluded because they were devised by their authors for one or two specific studies, and because insufficient evidence of sound instrument development or psychometric properties was reported.…”

“…2 Some studies of children's attitudes towards peers with disabilities used sociometric techniques for part [10][11][12] or all 13 of their research, while others used indirect methods of attitude measurement, such as behavioural observations, 14 or qualitative research methods. [15][16][17] Such methods were not considered suitable for use in an epidemiological study, therefore, instruments based on these methods were not included in this review.…”

Stigma in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…Former research indicated that children suffering from various diseases such as obesities, physical impairments/deviances, or learning disabilities seem to have an increased risk to get confronted with stigmatizing attitudes from unaffected peers (Crystal et al 1999 ; Musher-Eizenman et al 2004 ). Moreover, discriminating perceptions of peers due to race or ethnicity have been reported (McGlothlin et al 2005 ).…”