Predicting dispositions toward inclusion of students with disabilities: the role of conservative ideology and discomfort with disability

Within the published empirical record, a limited number of investigations exist that study the association between socio-political ideologies of preservice teachers and their attitudes toward disability-related matters within schools. To the extent that individual socio-political ideology and discomfort with disability remain mostly unexplored, this state of affairs may unwittingly compromise the capacity of future educators to assist students with special needs. The purpose of our study was to test relationships between preservice teachers’ conservative ideologies and discomfort with disability on the one hand and perceived negative attitudes toward students with disabilities and opposition to inclusion on the other. Our correlational findings indicate that preservice educators who report being higher in social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, economic and cultural conservatism, and discomfort with disabilities are more likely to oppose inclusion and to hold negative attitudes toward students with disabilities. Regression analyses revealed that social dominance orientation and discomfort with disability were stronger predictors of negative attitudes toward students with disabilities and opposition to inclusion than cultural conservatism/right-wing authoritarianism. These findings lend support to teacher preparation programs assisting preservice teachers in understanding (a) their attitudes toward inclusion and students with disabilities and (b) the impact their dispositions may have on their future effectiveness in supporting these students in their efforts to become productive and independent members of society.

Evaluating effectiveness of an infusion learning model on attitudes of physical education majors

The purpose was to evaluate the effect of an infusion curriculum model on attitudes of physical education majors toward teaching students with disabilities. 91 undergraduate students (61 men, 30 women) matriculating through the core curriculum of physical education teachers were exposed to the infusion curriculum as part of each course during one academic year. Attitudes were assessed pre- (Fall) and posttest (Spring) on the Physical Educator's Attitude Toward Teaching Individuals with Disabilities III. Analysis indicated a significant positive change in attitudes toward teaching students with disabilities. Findings suggest, when exposed to issues of disability by infusion into course content, these students self-reported they would have increased confidence in teaching and an appreciation when teaching students with disabilities. An independent validation of this change would be valuable.     

Attitudes of physical education majors in Turkey towards disability are changed by adaptive physical education training

This study was designed to investigate the attitudes of university students who are prospective physical education teachers toward individuals with physical disabilities. 47 college students majoring in physical education (Study group) and 34 students from other sports-related departments, i.e., sports management and training (Control group), participated in the study. The study group took a 14-week course on Adapted Physical Education (APE), whereas the control group did not. The Attitude Toward Disabled Persons scale, Form O was used to compare the attitudes of the groups. Analyses showed no significant difference between the groups in terms of attitude towards individuals with physical disabilities at the beginning of the semester but a significant difference at semester end. Results indicated that the APE course positively influenced attitude of the prospective physical education teachers towards individuals with physical disabilities.     

Attitude Transference and Deviant Behavior: A Comparative Study in Japan and the United States

Attitude transference is the term that has come to be used to refer to a key process by which one's personal attitudes approving or disapproving of certain behavior reflect those of his or her primary groups and in turn affect his or her conforming or deviant behavior. Cross-cultural comparisons on this and other issues afforded by previous studies, however, have been limited primarily to examining findings that have used different samples and instructions. Drawing on previous literature on cultural variability in individualism, the present study directly tests the hypotheses that although attitude transference operates similarly across cultures, the effects of parental and peer attitudes toward deviance on one's own attitudes should be weaker and stronger, respectively, in Japan compared to the United States. The analysis of identical survey data from college students in the two societies provides mixed support for the hypotheses.     

Positive reading attitudes of low-income bilingual latinos

Many assume low-income, emergent bilingual Latinos have poor reading attitudes. To investigate this issue, we surveyed 1,503 Texas public high school students through stratified cluster sampling to determine their reading attitudes. Most represented Latinos and mixed-race Latinos/Whites who heard Spanish at home and whose mother tongue was Spanish. Sources included the valid and reliable Rhody Reading Attitude Assessment (RRAS), demographic questions added to the RRAS, and campus summary data. Frameworks were social justice and linguistic funds of knowledge. Significant overall-reading attitude differences appeared in individual and school background variables. Regarding the former, the Latino/White blended group displayed significantly higher reading attitudes than Whites. Though insignificant, those who spoke Spanish and Spanish/English as mother tongues and those hearing Spanish and Spanish/English combinations at home demonstrated higher reading attitudes. Advanced program students had significantly higher reading attitudes than peers in other academic programs. Though insignificant, those in English as a second language (ESL) programs had higher reading attitudes than peers who self-identified as in regular programs. Regarding school-background variables, schools with the highest percentages of emergent bilinguals and students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch had significantly higher reading attitudes. Though insignificant, schools with 98.7% or higher Latino populations had the highest overall reading attitudes. Our findings challenge misperceptions of nondominant students.     

Attitudes toward and approaches to learning first-year university mathematics

This study examined the relationship for 180 undergraduate students enrolled in a first-year university calculus course between attitudes toward mathematics and approaches to learning mathematics using the Mathematics Attitude Scale and the Approaches to Learning Mathematics Questionnaire, respectively. Regression analyses indicated that scores for the Mathematics Attitude Scale were negatively related to scores for the Surface Approach and accounted for 10.4% of the variance and scores for the Mathematics Attitude Scale were positively related to scores for the Deep Approach to learning mathematics and accounted for 31.7% of the variance.     

The Role of Age and Age-Related Attitudes in Perceptions of Elderly Individuals

The goal of this study was to investigate the role of age-related attitudes in perceptions of elderly individuals. Fiske and Neuberg's (1990) model of person perception suggests that under some conditions people's attitudes toward older adults as a group are related to perceptions of elderly individuals. It was unclear, however, how people's attitudes toward their own aging may affect those perceptions. In this study younger and older adults completed measures of their age-related attitudes and then in a second session evaluated an elderly individual. Results revealed that both group attitudes and own aging attitudes were related to judgments of elderly targets when the elderly target was seen as typical of the group. The findings have implications for person perception models as well as for research on age-related attitudes.     

Differences in attitudes towards inclusion between parents of children with and without disabilities

IntroductionInclusion is among the greatest challenges facing educational systems throughout the world today. Parents’ attitudes play a key role in the successful implementation of inclusion. Therefore, there is a growing interest in comparing the attitudes towards inclusion among parents of children with and without disabilities.ObjectiveThe current study was set out to assess if there are differences in attitudes towards inclusion between parents of children with and without disabilities.MethodThe sample consisted of 332 parents (127 parents of children with disabilities and 205 parents of children without disabilities). All children attended general education primary schools. Participants completed anonymously the Greek version of Attitude Survey Towards Inclusive Education – Parents (de Boer et al., 2012a, b).ResultsThe findings showed no significant differences in attitudes towards inclusion between parents of children with and without disabilities. However, significant differences were found in parents’ attitudes towards inclusion based on their familiarity with a disabled person and the type of disabilities (congenital or acquired).ConclusionThese findings highlight the need to take into consideration parents’ and children's factors during the development of interventions to change attitudes towards inclusion.     

Learning disabilities and performance on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment

The No Child Left Behind Act mandates all students in schools receiving Title I funds show proficiency in reading by 2014. This stricture applies to students with diagnosed learning disabilities as well as to students without learning disabilities. Multiple regression analyses on data for seniors attending a Grade 9-12 predominately white, comprehensive vocational-technical school indicated that, when absenteeism, socioeconomic status, and sex were held constant, the 26 students with diagnosed learning disabilities scored 246.7 points lower on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Reading subtest (n = 107) and 214.4 points lower on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Mathematics subtest (n = 106) than students not so diagnosed, and the 27 students diagnosed with learning disabilities scored 126.3 points lower on the Writing subtest (n= 114) than students not so diagnosed.     

Family Context and Five-Year-Old Children’s Attitudes Toward Literacy When They are Learning to Read

This study explored associations in the family context, conceptualized as comprising parent–child practices and parental expectations, and five-year-old children's attitudes toward literacy. A total of 94 children from four primary schools and their parents participated in the study. Each child completed an individually administered Literacy Attitude Scale that assessed her enjoyment in reading-related activities. Parents completed a questionnaire about aspects of their family context. The results revealed a high level of positive attitudes toward literacy by beginning readers, with no gender difference. Frequency of parent–child everyday interactions and parental expectations had significant relationships with children's attitude toward literacy. This study highlights the importance of looking beyond parent–child literacy activities when examining children's attitudes toward literacy.     

The developmental course of processing speed in children with and without learning disabilities

This study contrasted the development of processing speed in children with and without learning disabilities. We examined whether the same global mechanism presumed to be responsible for the normal developmental improvement in processing speed might also be associated with the processing speed deficiencies observed in children with learning impairments. One hundred and twenty-two children with learning disabilities in reading and/or math and 206 non-disabled community controls participated. There were no differences in relation of age to the development of processing speed for children with and without learning disabilities. We interpreted these results as suggesting that the underlying etiologies for the normal developmental change in processing speed and for the relative deficiencies in processing speed seen among children with learning disabilities were different.     

Phenomenology of Bibliotherapy in Modifying Teacher Punitiveness

The authors examined the phenomenology of bibliotherapy and its effects in changing preservice teachers' punitive attitudes toward children. Participants (N = 29) were enrolled in a university course (Introduction to Emotional Disturbance). Five books by Torey Hayden, autobiographical accounts of teaching and building relationships with students with emotional and behavioral disorders, were read and discussed within the framework of group bibliotherapy. Participants completed a self-report rating form measuring their tendency toward punitiveness during the first and last weeks of the 15-week semester. Participants also completed a questionnaire measuring the bibliotherapeutic impact of reading Hayden's texts, and they kept journals about the experience of reading Hayden. Comparison of the group's pre- and post-measures on punitiveness showed a small, albeit significant decrease in punitiveness; decreased punitiveness was associated with the therapeutic impact of reading Hayden. Phenomenological analysis of the participants'journal entries revealed that the structure of the experience of reading Hayden was one of identification with the protagonist, leading to emotional and cognitive learning.     

Relationships Between Trait Anxiety,Demographic Variables,and School Adjustment in Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

The present study investigated relationships between dimensions of anxiety, age, gender, and school adjustment in students with specific learning disabilities (SLD). The 177 students with SLD completed measures of anxiety and school adjustment. The results of a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that age and gender together were not significant predictors of attitude to school, and that after the influence of age and gender had been removed students with more physiological and social anxiety, but less worry tended to have poorer attitudes toward school. A second hierarchical regression indicated that younger students reported more negative attitudes toward teachers, and after controlling for age and gender, students with more social anxiety reported more negative attitudes toward teachers. Implications for school personnel are discussed.     

Changing men's male gender-role attitudes by applying the elaboration likelihood model of attitude change

The traditional male gender role has been associated with a host of psychological and physical problems. In this study, 118 male university students viewed one of two videotaped interventions based on R. E. Petty and J. T. Cacioppo's [(1986) Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change, New York: Springer-Verlag) elaboration likelihood model of attitude change (ELM) or were in a control group. One intervention was designed to create less traditional male gender-role attitudes, the other to enhance participants' attitudes toward seeking psychological help. Both interventions significantly changed male gender-role attitudes on Brannon Masculinity Scale scores, but not their Gender Role Conflict Scale—I scores, and neither influenced help-seeking attitudes. The overall pattern of scores suggests that men's attitudes about the male role may be less resistant to change than attitudes about one's own gender role or one's fear of femininity.     

Between Remembering and Forgetting the Years of Political Violence: Psychosocial Impact of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Peru

This article analyzes the association between knowledge of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), evaluation of TRC's achievements, experience of victimization, attitudes toward remembering and forgetting past political violence, perceptions of socioemotional climate (SEC), belief in forgiveness and attitudes toward violence in Peru based on a study conducted in three Peruvian cities with different rates of victimization due to political violence during 1980–2000 (n = 1200). Results showed that a positive attitude toward remembering the past of political violence was predominant and related to a positive evaluation of TRC's achievements. Attitude toward remembering also has an ambivalent collective effect increasing both positive and negative SECs, and it is less accepted by victims of political violence. On the other hand, attitude toward forgetting is less accepted by participants, and it also has an ambivalent effect by increasing positive and negative SECs. Attitude toward forgetting has more societal costs, since it is related to attitudes toward violence and decreased knowledge and a positive evaluation of TRC. In general, findings suggest that remembering traumatic events has an emotional cost, but also it is shown that remembering seems to be more beneficial for society in the long‐term than forgetting.     

Aspirations and Expectations of Physically Impaired High School Seniors

Physically disabled and non-disabled high school seniors' educational and vocational aspiration-expectation discrepancies were compared. No significant differences were found when the two groups were matched for cumulative GPA and level of father's occupation. GPA's and father's job levels of disabled students were significantly lower than those of the non-disabled. When not matched, disabled students' vocational aspiration-expectation discrepancies were significantly higher than those of the non-disabled. Higher aspiration than expectation for the highest vocational and educational levels, professional training, and employment were the major sources of differences expressed by seniors.     

THE EFFECTS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATCH AND CONTENT OVERLAP ON GENERALIZED READING PERFORMANCE

This study examined the effects of instructional match and content overlap on students' ability to generalize from passage reading instruction. Four students with mild disabilities served as participants. Using a multielement design, students were instructed with passages at two levels of text difficulty (instructionally matched vs. instructionally mismatched), and generalization was assessed with passages at two levels of similarity to those instructed (low vs. high content overlap). Results indicated that students' oral reading accuracy and fluency showed the greatest degree of generalization when instructional materials were matched to the students' skill level and assessment materials were similar to those used during instruction. Moreover, these results were maintained at 1-month follow-up. The implications of these findings for classroom reading instruction and the assessment of students' reading skills are discussed.     

Attitudes of pre‐service physical educators at a faith‐based university toward individuals with disabilities

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an undergraduate adapted physical education course on the attitudes of pre‐service physical educators toward individuals with disabilities using the Physical Educators Attitude toward Teaching Individuals with Disabilities, third edition. The participants for this study were 108 students enrolled in undergraduate adapted physical education courses at a faith‐based university.

Statistically significant differences were found between the participants’ pre‐ and post‐intervention attitudinal scores on all measured areas. There were no statistically significant differences in the attitudinal scores based on the respondents either enrolling in both the lecture course and the laboratory, or alone enrolling in the lecture course. Surveys indicated other findings as well.     

Socio-ecological influences of attitudes toward disability among Kenyan undergraduate students

This study examined personal and contextual variables as predictors of attitudes toward disability at a Kenyan higher education setting. Participants were a convenience sample of 309 undergraduate students at a Kenyan university enrolled in Sociology, Social Work, Psychology, Political Science, and Public Administration majors. Data on attitudes were collected using the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons scale (ATDP: Antonac & Livneh, 1988). A cross-sectional survey design was employed for data collection, and a multiple regression analysis was used for data analysis. Results revealed that the model was significant: F (9, 250)?=?2.784, p?=?0.004. However, only age (β?=?0.173, p?=?0.044) significantly predicted attitudes towards disability, indicating older students held more positive attitudes than their younger counterparts. Older students had a more favourable attitude towards people with disabilities than younger students. Seniority, by age, is highly valued in Africa than perhaps anywhere in the world. Kenyan older adults may be key to enhancing favourable attitudes toward individuals with disabilities in Kenya as well as interventions aimed at changing negative attitudes towards people with disabilities.     

Ethnicity and the stigma of disabilities

Abstract

Recent studies reveal significant differences in the attitudes held by people of various ethnic groups toward people with disabilities. We surveyed university students and community members on a scale of desired social distance from people with disabilities. Study 1 revealed that Asian-American participants were more likely to stigmatize and less likely to differentiate between individuals with physical and mental illness than were their African-American, Latin-American or European-American counterparts. Study 2 compared U.S. born with Asian born Asian-Americans and found that nativity was a useful predictor of attitudes toward people with disabilities. Asian born participants were more likely to stigmatize disabilities overall (except mental illness and old age) than U.S. born participants presumably because of the level of assimilation. These cultural differences may have health care and psychosocial implications for those who are disabled and for health care providers.