High School‐Aged Youths' Attitudes Toward their Peers with Disabilities: the role of school and student interpersonal Factors

Abstract

Negative peer attitudes are generally recognised as being a major barrier to full social inclusion at school for children and youth with disabilities. The present study examined the attitudes of 1,872 grade nine high school students in Ontario, Canada toward their peers with disabilities. A bioecological perspective and a structural equation modeling approach were adopted to investigate how various aspects of school culture and student interpersonal factors in¯uenced attitudes. The majority of students (61%) held attitudes toward peers with disabilities that ranged from slightly above neutral to very positive. However, a substantial number (21%) held slightly below neutral to very negative attitudes. Positive student relationships at the school level and a school goal task structure that promoted learning and understanding for all students, rather than social comparison and competition among students, were two aspects of school culture that had both direct associations with positive attitudes and indirect associations through student interpersonal factors. Teacher and student relationships at the school level was an aspect of school culture that had an indirect association with positive attitudes via interpersonal support from teachers. Results support the development of ecologically based programs aimed at promoting aspects of school culture that contribute to positive attitudes of students toward their peers with disabilities.

Student-Teachers’ Attitudes toward Students with Disabilities: Associations with Contact and Empathy

“…Seo and Chen (2009) found that adults who reported favorable attitudes toward individuals with disabilities also reported having greater contact with these individuals. Similar results were found for adolescents (McDougall et al, 2004) and children (Kalyva and Agaliotis, 2009).…”

“…Previous research supports the notion that increased contact with individuals with disabilities promotes more favorable attitudes toward such individuals in the general population, (Hunt and Hunt, 2000;McDougall et al, 2004;Kalyva and Agaliotis, 2009;Seo and Chen, 2009) as well as with teachers, (Harvey and Green, 1984;Tait and Purdie, 2000). The current study generally supports this notion however; the current results demonstrate that quantity of contact is not the only variable associated with positive attitudes.…”

The association between children's contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards disability: a systematic review

“…14,16,17,21,22,30,32,[34][35][36][37]40,[45][46][47]49 These studies all showed that the more contact children had with people with disabilities, the more positive their attitudes were towards disability. From the nine articles in which effect sizes were available or calculated, effect size d ranged from 0.17 to 2.45 (Table I).…”

“…The CATCH was used in full in four studies, 14,[34][35][36] and a subscale was used in one additional study. 37 The 'Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons' 38 scale, or adapted versions of it, was used in four studies. 24,[39][40][41] In addition to self-reported attitude measures, other techniques included asking children questions about how they would respond to a disabled child described in a written vignette.…”

Οι Στάσεις Των Μαθητών Δημοτικού Έναντι Των Συνομηλίκων Τους Με Αναπηρία

“…Σπγθεθξηκέλα, ζηελ έξεπλα ησλ Hurst et al (2012) βξέζεθε όηη ηα παηδηά πνπ δελ γλώξηδαλ θάπνην άηνκν κε αλαπεξία ζεκείσζαλ ρακειόηεξα επίπεδα απνδνρήο, ζε ζρέζε κε ηα άιια παηδηά πνπ γλώξηδαλ, αλεμαξηήησο κάιηζηα ηεο ζπρλόηεηαο ηεο επαθήο. Σηελ ίδηα θαηεύζπλζε, ζύκθσλα κε ηνπο McDougall, DeWit, King, Miller, & Killip (2004) παξνπζηάζηεθε πςειόηεξνο κέζνο όξνο ζηηο ζεηηθέο ζηάζεηο γηα ηνπο καζεηέο πνπ είραλ θάπνην θίιν ή ζπκκαζεηή κε αλαπεξία. Δπηπξόζζεηα, ζηελ έξεπλα ησλ Rillota θαη Nettelbeck (2007) ζηελ νπνία εθαξκόζηεθε έλα πξόγξακκα επαηζζεηνπνίεζεο θαη γλσξηκίαο κε ηε λνεηηθή πζηέξεζε δηαπηζηώζεθε όηη νη καζεηέο πνπ ζπκκεηείραλ ζην πξόγξακκα ζεκείσζαλ πεξηζζόηεξν ζεηηθέο ζηάζεηο ζπγθξηηηθά κε εθείλνπο πνπ δελ έιαβαλ ηελ αληίζηνηρε παξέκβαζε.…”