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Research Paper

Children’s contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards disability: a cross-sectional study

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Pages 879-888 | Received 27 Jan 2015, Accepted 16 Jul 2015, Published online: 13 Aug 2015
 

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the association between children’s self-reported contact with people with disabilities and attitudes towards them, as well the potential mediating influence of anxiety about interacting with people with disabilities and empathy for them. Method: 1881 children, aged 7–16 years, from 20 schools in South West England completed a survey assessing their contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards them. Anxiety about interacting with people with disabilities and empathy towards them were examined as potential mediators. Gender, school year, perceived similarity between people with and without disabilities, proportion of children with additional needs at the school and socioeconomic status (SES) were assessed as moderators. A random effects (“multilevel”) regression model was used to test the contact–attitude association and moderation, and path analysis was used to test for mediation. Results: Participants with more self-reported contact reported more positive attitudes towards disability (p < 0.001). Less anticipated anxiety and greater empathy together mediated around a third of this association. Only school year moderated the contact–attitude association (affective attitudes), with stronger contact–attitude associations in primary school children than secondary school children. Conclusions: Self-reported contact was observed to be associated with more positive attitudes towards disability, which was partially mediated by empathy and anxiety. Providing opportunities for contact with people with disabilities that reduces anxiety and increases empathy may improve attitudes to disability and merits evaluation in interventions.

    Implications for Rehabilitation

  • Children who reported greater levels of contact with people with disabilities had more positive attitudes towards disability.

  • Anxiety about interacting with people with disabilities and empathy towards them partially mediated the contact–attitude associations.

  • Providing opportunities for contact with people with disabilities, reducing anxiety and increasing empathy may improve children’s attitudes to disability.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Family Faculty at PenCRU, the staff and pupils at the schools who participated in this project, and Sammyh Khan for his methodological advice.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

We acknowledge funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care of the South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC), and the charity Cerebra. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the Department of Health, or Cerebra.

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