Journal of Pediatric Psychology 23(6) pp. 367-375, 1998
© 1998 Society of Pediatric Psychology
research-article |
Children's Willingness to Share Activities With a Physically Handicapped Peer: Am I More Willing Than My Classmates?
The University of Memphis
We thank the children and staff of The University of Memphis Campus School for their participation in this project. This study was partially supported by a Center of Excellence grant from the State of Tennessee to the Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis. All correspondence should be sent to Sam B. Morgan, Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38152. E-mail: s.morgan{at}mail.psyc.memphis.edu
Objective: To examine factors affecting children's willingness to share activities with a peer presented as physically handicapped.
Method: Participants were 120 elementary school children randomly assigned to view a video of an ambulatory child or the same child in a wheelchair. They rated, on the Shared Activities Questionnaire (SAQ), their own willingness (SAQ-Self) and their perceptions of classmates' willingness (SAQ-Others) to participate in activities with the child.
Results: SAQ-Self ratings were consistently higher for the peer in the wheelchair. On the SAQ-Others, differences favoring the child in the wheelchair disappeared, and ratings of this child were lower than SAQ-Self ratings. No interactions were found between ambulation status and age or rater gender or preference for type of shared activity.
Conclusions: Children showed highly positive intentions toward a peer in a wheelchair, but intentions attributed to classmates were less positive, which suggests "social desirability" influenced their own ratings.
Key words: physical disability; attitudes; behavioral intentions; social desirability.