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

Abstract

ABBREVIATIONS CATCHChedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps STROBE Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology AIM The aim of this review was to systematically review and synthesize observational evidence of associations between children's naturally varying contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards disability.METHOD A comprehensive search was conducted across multiple databases. Studies were included if they measured children's contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards disability. Qualitative research and studies that experimentally varied the amount of contact children had were excluded. Data were synthesized in a narrative review.RESULTS There were 35 studies that met the inclusion criteria: 22 of these reported a statistically significant association between contact with people with disabilities and more positive attitudes towards disability; two studies reported a negative association between contact and attitudes; and 11 studies reported no association. Incomplete reporting of the methods and results across studies limited the conclusions that could be drawn. INTERPRETATION Studies identified in this review generally indicate that children's contactwith people with disabilities is associated with more positive attitudes towards disability. There is a need for more rigorous research to examine the effect of children's contact with people with disabilities on their attitudes towards disability.Children with disabilities are often the targets of negative attitudes. Parents of children with disabilities have described how negative attitudes are more disabling than their child's impairments. 1 A meta-analysis of studies published between 1990 and 2000 found that, generally, children have better attitudes towards children without disabilities than they do towards those with physical or intellectual impairments.2 Furthermore, in a cohort study conducted over 3 years, between 21% and 30% of children with disabilities experienced peer victimization, as reported by their parents.3 Experiencing negative attitudes and being victimized by peers is associated with self-blame, loneliness, anxiety, and low self-worth. 4 Therefore, it is important to understand negative attitudes towards disability and the factors associated with those attitudes.A series of psychological interventions derived from the 'contact hypothesis' 5 have been designed to promote positive attitudes towards a range of social groups. By creating positive interactions (contact) between members of different social groups, negative attitudes may be reduced. 6 Positive contact can break down psychological group boundaries, reduce anxiety, and elicit emotions such as empathy directed towards outgroup members who are otherwise often inhibited in intergroup contexts.7 A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies involving a range of intergroup contexts suggested that contact is nearly always successful in improving attitudes and reducing prejudice. 6 However, the re...

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

“…In related fields, preschool children's exposure to people with disabilities resulted in more positive attitudes toward them (Hazzard, 1983;MacMillan, Tarrant, Abraham, & Morris, 2014). Taken together, these studies suggest that exposing preschool children to people who stutter may improve their stuttering attitudes.…”

Children’s contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards disability: a cross-sectional study

“…Although the CATCH is the most commonly implemented scale to test children's attitudes towards people with disabilities [11], it has been criticised for the lack of transparency regarding whether it should be treated as a unidimensional scale or as three separate subscales of affective attitudes, behavioural intentions and cognitive attitudes [14,24]. Before conducting the analysis for this study, scale dimensionality was explored and the CATCH was revised to create two separate unidimensional scales of affective attitudes and behavioural intentions which were used for the main analysis [17].…”

“…Beyond direct face-to-face contact, positive attitudes can be formed through knowledge that fellow ingroup members have a positive relationship with an outgroup member ("extended contact") [10]. In the context of specifically disability attitudes, a recent review found that children's direct contact with people with disabilities is associated with more positive attitudes [11]. However, most of the research cited in the review was of poor quality, limiting the conclusions that could be drawn; furthermore, potential mediators or moderators of the contact-attitude association were not explored.…”

Rasch analysis of the Chedoke–McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps scale

“…Therefore, it has been recommended that research identify effective ways to promote more positive societal attitudes towards people with disabilities [3,4]. Attitudes are difficult to measure directly; thus, they are often measured using self-report rating scales [5].…”