Children's Attitudes towards Peers with Disabilities: Associations with Personal and Parental Factors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the following: (i) associations among children's prior contact with people with disabilities and the three dimensions of children's attitudes towards people with disabilities: children's understanding of and their feelings about people with disabilities and their behavioural intentions to make inclusion decisions; (ii) the relation between children's behavioural intentions to make inclusion decisions and the demands of activity contexts and the types of disabilities; and (iii) the association between parents' attitudes and children's attitudes. Participants included 94 typically developing four‐ and five‐year‐old preschoolers. Children's understanding of disabilities and their prior contact with people with disabilities were found to be positively related to their feelings about people with disabilities; children's understanding of disabilities was a significant moderator of the relation between their behavioural intentions and activity contexts or types of disabilities. The hypothesized association between parents' attitudes and children's attitudes was not significant. Preschoolers may benefit from having more regular contact with people with disabilities to develop positive feelings towards their peers with disabilities, which is also related to their understanding of disabilities. Children's behavioural intentions to make inclusion decisions need to be understood in relation to their understanding of disabilities, the demand of activity contexts, and types of disabilities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Children’s attitudes towards peers with learning disabilities – the role of perceived parental behaviour, contact experiences and self‐efficacy beliefs

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“…Parents generally hold positive attitudes towards the inclusion of children with special educational needs (de Boer & Munde, ; Hong et al, ; Kalyva et al, ). However, parental attitudes vary significantly with regard to the form of disability.…”

Attitudes toward stuttering of nonstuttering preschool and kindergarten children: A comparison using a standard instrument prototype

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The High 5! disability awareness program and its impact on its participants

“…They were also required to write down the type of disability of their schoolmate. Hong, Kwon and Jeon (2014) found that the development of children's attitudes towards disability is positively influenced by the experience of personal encounter with people with disabilities, regardless of their structure.…”