Background Past research has shown that children can be biased against peers with disabilities, but the association of attitudes with gender, age and disability preferences, as well as interactions between these variables, are unclear. The objectives of this study were to examine these issues in a cross-sectional, split-plot study to clarify: (1) if elementary school children's attitudes towards peers with disabilities are related to age, gender and type of disability; (2) if interactions between these variables exist; and (3) if convergent validity could be achieved across three theoretically linked dependent variables.

Methods  One hundred elementary school children between 4 and 10 years old were assessed for attitudes towards target children with no disability, a physical or an intellectual disability, and a combined intellectual/physical disability. Measures were completed in an interview format.

Results  Attitudes towards a target child with physical disabilities and a target child without disabilities did not differ. There was a significant interaction for age and disability. Attitudes towards target children with intellectual and intellectual/physical disabilities were negatively biased, and were negatively associated with age. Results were consistent across measures except for a main effect of gender in one measure and a gender by age interaction in another.

Conclusions  Children's attitudes appear to be associated with several factors, including age and the presence or absence of disability. Gender differences in attitudes may be because of gender-based response biases rather than disability biases. Because of the multifaceted nature of childhood attitudes, cross-sectional designs with several dependent and independent variables provide an opportunity to examine consistency of results across measures and potential interactions between factors that may not be uncovered when variables are examined in isolation.

A cross‐sectional multivariate analysis of children's attitudes towards disabilities

With contributions from David Brake, Jesse Elvin, Rebecca Gooch, Judith Livingstone and Russell Luyt. Key points from the evidence on harm and offence: * Research shows some harmful effects of the media under certain circumstances, with media content being part of a multi-factor explanation of social concerns (violence, sexuality, stereotyping, etc). * Harm and offence must be balanced against a consideration of the benefits of the various media, although this was beyond the scope of the present review. * Much of the available research comes from the US and is based in a different media regulatory environment from that of the UK. In the UK there are specific regulatory systems in place to restrict access to inappropriate content or, in the case of children, to enable parents to regulate their children's consumption of inappropriate material. * The majority of research has been carried out in the field of television but this does not necessarily mean that television has a greater effect. There is some evidence for harm from film and games, but there is little current research into the effects of radio, music or print. There is very little research examining the influence of new media. * The evidence for harm is stronger in relation to children, especially boys and psychologically vulnerable people. Women and older people are more likely to be offended by what they watch. * The types of harm include cognitive (eg stereotypes about others), emotional (eg fear), and behavioural (eg aggressive behaviour). There is more evidence for harm in terms of aggression/violence and it seems to apply across a range of media. * There is less academic research into areas of offence but it is clear that individuals and certain groups find some media content offensive. * A range of factors are found to affect how audiences react to the different media. These include the context of media use (such as viewer choice) as well as editorial issues such as the narrative context in which the content appears or the way in which the characters are drawn. It is unclear how content which does not have these types of framework (such as user-generated content) might affect the audience. * The evidence base remains problematic to some extent, partly because not all researchers agree on the interpretation of the findings, especially for experimental research. There are also ethical and practical problems which prevent certain concerns being researched, for instance the long term effects of viewing violent material or the impact of pornography on children.

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Harm and Offence in Media Content: A Review of the Evidence

This study investigated the nature of kindergarten children's understanding about and attitudes toward disabilities. Interviews with 77 Canadian children enrolled in inclusive classrooms showed tha...

Kindergarten Children's Understanding of and Attitudes Toward People With Disabilities:

Understanding attitudes of the public toward people with Down syndrome is important because negative attitudes might create barriers to social integration, which can affect their success and quality of life. We used data from two 2008 U.S. surveys (HealthStyles(c) survey of adults 18 years or older and YouthStyles(c) survey of youth ages 9-18) that asked about attitudes toward people with Down syndrome, including attitudes toward educational and occupational inclusion and toward willingness to interact with people with Down syndrome. Results showed that many adults continue to hold negative attitudes toward people with Down syndrome: A quarter of respondents agreed that students with Down syndrome should go to special schools, nearly 30% agreed that including students with Down syndrome in typical educational settings is distracting, and 18% agreed that persons with Down syndrome in the workplace increase the chance for accidents. Negative attitudes were also held by many youth: 30% agreed that students with Down syndrome should go to separate schools, 27% were not willing to work with a student with Down syndrome on a class project, and nearly 40% indicated they would not be willing to spend time with a student with Down syndrome outside of school. Among both adult and youth, female sex and respondents with previous relationships with people with Down syndrome were consistently associated with more positive attitudes. These results may be helpful in the development of educational materials about Down syndrome and in guiding policies on educational and occupational inclusion.

/pdf/understanding-attitudes-toward-people-with-down-syndrome-n9vpw5d5kz.pdf

Understanding Attitudes Toward People With Down Syndrome

Developmental Psychopathology: Perspectives on Adjustment, Risk, and Disorder

The results of previous research suggest that while preschool children have a beginning understanding of disabilities that involve the use of adaptive equipment, they have little awareness of disabilities such as Down syndrome which have less overt distinguishing characteristics. In this study, videotaped segments from the children's television show, Sesame Street, were used to explore children's ideas about Down syndrome and physical disability. Participants included 41 preschool children. While a majority of participating children were aware that each child in the videotapes had some difficulties performing age-appropriate tasks, children had significantly fewer ideas about why the child with Down syndrome had this difficulty. Significantly more thought that the child with Down syndrome could do more "if he tried really hard" when compared with the child with a physical disability. These results are discussed in terms of children's developing understanding of disabilities and implications for using medi...

Katherine R. Kensinger

Papers

Vignettes from "Sesame Street": Preschooler's Ideas about Children with Down Syndrome and Physical Disability.