A large body of research has documented the social isolation and stigma attached to children with disabilities (Droege & Stipek, 1993; Hymel,Wagner & Butler, 1990; Ladd, Price & Hart, 1990; Ramsey, 1995; Guralnick & Groom, 1988). In previous studies (Weiserbs & Gottlieb, 1992; 1995) the perception of psychological risk emerged as a factor that interfered with friendship formation, maintaining the social isolation of these children. In the present study, we continue to explore possible causes of existing stigma attached to children with disabilities, especially examining whether the permanent status of a disability is troubling to children without disabilities. We framed our study using the perception of psychological risk as the expected, underlying motivator of attitude expression. We were interested in learning whether some attribute common to children with disabilities elicited a perception of risk. Our primary goal was to investigate whether information on how long a disability was expected to exist, a difference in permanent or temporary duration, would influence the way children with disabilities are perceived and whether that perception would vary with the duration of the disabling condition.
Our method for extracting this information was to describe two children identically with the exception of the duration of their disability which was either permanent or temporary.
The participants in this study were four hundred and ninety-two students from 3rd grade through high school in New York City Public Schools. Any student with parental consent was accepted into the study providing they met the criteria of being an English speaker and reading on grade level. All participants were told that two new students might be coming to their class. Both had recently been involved in an automobile accident, resulting in a permanent injury to one and a temporary injury to the other. Neither of the children had resolved feelings of anger associated with the accident. Both had difficulty maneuvering their wheelchairs and both children’s classroom behaviors were realistically portrayed given these circumstances. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to a risk condition in which they received additional information that the remaining half did not. They were told that children who responded positively might be asked to help one of the newcomers with school work, to become a buddy especially during lunch, or to wheel the child inside the school building. Two questions taken from a previous study and proven to be most sensitive in measuring the perception of risk were used here to examine attitudes. One question addressed attitudes on the willingness of children to befriend others with a disability, the second question addressed the willingness to help these children (Weiserbs & Gottlieb, 1992). The subjects were asked to select descriptors from a six-point scale. Lower scores indicated greater prosocial behavior.
Two 3-way repeated measures MANOVA were used with Age (young, middle, older) and Risk (yes, no) as the between groups factor and Duration of disability (permanent, temporary) and Time (time 1, time 2) as the within groups factor. The score on Friendship was the dependent measure in the first analysis and the score on Helping was the dependent measure in the second analysis.
The duration of the disability did affect children’s willingness to befriend disabled peers, the child with a temporary disability receiving significantly more favorable responses (F-14.72, df=1,486, p<.0001). The prospect of friendship with a child having a permanent disability did provoke a more negative response. Not unexpectedly however, attitudes on befriending disabled peers improved given time to consider their responses toward children with both permanent and temporary disabilities (F=20.31, df=1,486, p<.0001).
With respect to helping, children were less willing to help under conditions of risk than without this condition (F=7.85, df=1,486, p=.005). But attitudes on helping were always more favorable than attitudes on friendship toward children with both permanent and temporary disabilities.
The temporary condition was less threatening than the permanent condition. We interpret this information to reflect that the duration of a disability is an attribute to which children do observe and respond. Together this information offers some insight into the social complexities involved in interactions between children in mainstreamed and inclusion classrooms. Minimizing the pervasive impact of the disability may serve to improve social relationships between children.
References
Droege, K & Stipek, D. (1993). Children’s use of dispositions to predict classmates’ behavior. Developmental Psychology, 29(4), 646-654.
Guralnick, M. & Groom, J. (1988). Peer interactions in mainstreamed and specialized classrooms: A comparative analysis. Exceptional Children, 54, 415-425.
Hymel, S., Wagner, E. & Butler, L. (1990). Reputational bias: View from the peer group. In S. R. Asher & J. D. Coie (Eds.) Peer rejection in childhood (pp.156-186). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ladd, G., Price, J. & Hart, C. (1990). Preschoolers’ behavioral orientations and patterns of peer contact: Predictive of peer status? In S. R. Asher & J.D. Coie (Eds.). Peer rejection in childhood (pp. 90-115). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ramsey, P. (1995). Changing social dynamics in early childhood classrooms. Child Development, 66, 764-773.
Weiserbs, B. & Gottlieb, J. (1995). The perception of risk over time as a factor influencing attitudes toward children with physical disabilities. Journal of Psychology, 129(6), 689-699.
Weiserbs, B. & Gottlieb, J. (1992). Perceived risk as a factor influencing attitudes toward physically disabled children. Journal of Developmental and Phsycuak Disabilities, 4(4), 341-352.