Presidential Address: Children's Social Preferences Toward Peers with Visible Physical Differences

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Children's (disabled/nondisabled) social preferences and acceptance toward visibly physically impaired peers was studied using a picture ranking task. Preference rankings of pictorially represented disabilities were examined in relation to varying social contexts and different types of questions. The results indicated that the order of preference of disabilities is a highly complex response dependent upon several variables, including the type of disabilities present in the ranking, the sample tested, the social context of the task, and the type of questions asked. Disabled children (mobility impaired) do not show the same order of preference for disabilities as their nondisabled peers. Generalizations concerning the nondisabled acceptance of disabled should not be attempted without considering the situational characteristics of the interactions. The culturally uniform preference ranking as noted in earlier studies was not supported.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: