Prerequisites for Children's Attitudes Toward Peers With Special Educational Needs

• In Event: 31.082 - Escúchame! Listen to Me! Exploring Underserved Students' Voice Through Innovative and Participatory Research Designs

Abstract

Children’s attitudes towards peers with special educational needs (SEN) are of major importance for social participation in inclusive classrooms. Following Eagly and Chaiken (1993), an attitude is understood as “a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor” (p. 1). In the recent years, children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN have been investigated with the aim of a better understanding of opportunities and limitations concerning the social participation of children in inclusive classrooms (e.g., de Boer, Pijl, & Minnaert, 2012; Schwab, 2017). Until now, concrete cause-effect relationships concerning the genesis of children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN are still unclear. For example, the importance of the parental role model behavior for children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN is not yet fully investigated. However, there is empirical evidence given for the important role of the parental behavior for children’s attitudes (e.g., Innes & Diamond, 1999) as illustrated by the theory of social referencing (Feinman, 1992). Current research also shows the importance of children’s contact experiences with peers with SEN as well as their self-cognitions (e.g. social self-concepts, self-efficacy beliefs concerning interpersonal skills) for their attitudes towards peers with SEN (e.g., Armstrong, Morris, Abraham, & Tarrant, 2017). Against this background, we assume that children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN can significantly be predicted by their perceptions of their parental behavior towards peers with SEN, their social self-concepts, their contact experiences with children with SEN as well as their self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills (H1). On the basis of the theory of social referencing (Feinman, 1992), we expect children’s perceptions of their parental behavior towards peers with SEN to increase or decrease their self-efficacy beliefs. These processes affect children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN. Thus, we hypothesize that effects of children’s perceptions of their parental behavior on their attitudes towards peers with SEN are significantly mediated by their self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills (H2).
In our study, N=753 primary school students from North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany were asked to fill in a questionnaire. They provided information on their attitudes towards peers with SEN as well as on their social self-concepts, their self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills, their contact experiences and their perceptions of their parental behavior towards peers with SEN. For the evaluation of our hypotheses, a structural equation model was calculated. Supporting hypothesis H1, the results indicate that children’s attitudes can be explained by their perceived parental behavior, their contact experiences, and their self-efficacy beliefs. Not supporting hypotheses H1, children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN are not predicted by their social self-concepts. Their self-efficacy beliefs are explained by their perceived parental behavior towards peers with SEN. Supporting hypothesis H2, the effect of children’s perceptions of their parental behavior on their attitudes towards peers with SEN is significantly mediated by their self-efficacy beliefs. Overall, the results of our study point out the relevance of children’s perceived parental behavior for their attitudes towards peers with SEN as well as for their self-efficacy.

Authors

• Frank Hellmich, 1Paderborn University

• Marwin Felix Loeper, Paderborn University