The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of middle school students toward students with disabilities. The participants were 282 seventh - and eighth-graders at a middle school in Gwangju metropolitan city. The survey included the followi...
The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of middle school students toward students with disabilities. The participants were 282 seventh - and eighth-graders at a middle school in Gwangju metropolitan city. The survey included the following (a) six questions about students' socio-demographic information; (b) three questions about students' experiences with students who have disabilities; (c) a 15-item Activity Preference scale; and (d) a 17-item Disability Acceptance scale. Ethics teachers administered the survey to the participants in each class, September 13-14, 2002. The results were as follows:
First, regular students at a middle school obtained information about disability mainly through television and their exposure to students with disabilities were, for the most part indirect through mass media or books. The most frequent type of disability to which regular students were exposed was mental retardation.
Second, regular students showed the midpoint on both the Activity Preference scale and the Disability Acceptance scale. Regular students indicated that they did not extremely like nor extremely dislike to share activities with students who have disabilities.
Third, there were no differences 1)between boys and girls in their attitudes to students with disabilities.
Fourth, there were no statistical differences between seventh graders and eighth graders in their attitudes toward students with disabilities.
Fifth, regular students who did not have a family member with disabilities showed more favorable attitudes toward students with disabilities than did those who have a family member with disabilities. The difference was found to be statistically significant.
Finally, academic achievement, father's education level, and socioeconomic status did not have statistically significant correlations with the level of attitudes totward students with disabilities.