Children's Willingness to Share Activities With a Physically Handicapped Peer: Am I More Willing Than My Classmates?

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	Children's Willingness to Share Activities With a Physically Handicapped Peer: Am I More Willing Than My Classmates?
Authors:	Morgan, Sam B.¹, Bieberich, Andrea A.¹, Walker, Mark¹, Schwerdtfeger, Heidi¹
Source:	Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 1998, Vol. 23 Issue 6, p367-375. 9p.
Subject Terms:	Children with disabilities, Peer relations, *Classroom environment, Social desirability in children, Social participation, Social interaction in children, Social aspects
Abstract:	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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
Abstract:	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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	01468693
DOI:	10.1093/jpepsy/23.6.367