Exploring the Multicomponent Structure of Acceptance Attitudes in Portuguese Children Using the Modified Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes toward Children with Handicaps scale
Sílvia Alves
,
Pedro Lopes-dos-Santos
,
Manuela Sanches-Ferreira
,
Mónica Silveira-Maia
Social participation represent one of the major outcomes of inclusive education. Students with additional support needs often encountered negative att.
- Pub. date: October 15, 2021
- Pages: 1963-1972
- 342 Downloads
- 833 Views
- 2 Citations
Social participation represent one of the major outcomes of inclusive education. Students with additional support needs often encountered negative attitudes of social acceptance exhibited by their typically developing peers hindering their social participation in the educational context. This study explored the multicomponent structure of Portuguese children’s attitudes toward their peers with disabilities using a modified short form of the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes toward Children with Handicaps scale (CATCH). In particular, this study aimed to (a) determine the factor structure of the CATCH and (b) evaluate the measurement invariance across age and gender. To identify the CATCH factor structure, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on data collected from 1,038 children aged 8–18 years. Analyses revealed that a modified short form of the CATCH consisting of a 20-item measure with a three-factor structure displayed acceptable fit and internal consistency indices. This model proved to be invariant across groups. The Portuguese-modified short form of the CATCH, in which cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions are represented, has acceptable psychometric properties and the potential to evaluate the effectiveness of educational programs designed to improve children’s attitudes.
children with disabilities attitudes catch confirmatory factor analysis measurement invariance
Keywords: Children with disabilities, attitudes, CATCH, confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance.
References
Ainscow, M., Slee, R., & Best, M. (2019). Editorial: The Salamanca Statement: 25 years on. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23(7-8), 671-676. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2019.1622800
Ajzen, I. (2005). Attitudes, personality and behaviour (2nd ed.). Open University Press.
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour. Prentice-Hall.
Albarracin, D., Johnson, B. T., & Zanna, M. P. (2005). The Handbook of Attitudes. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Antonak, R., & Livneh, H. (1988). The measurement of attitudes toward people with disabilities: Methods, psychometrics and scales. Thomas.
Antonak, R., & Livneh, H. (2000). Measurement of attitudes towards persons with disabilities. Disability and Rehabilitation, 22(5), 211-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/096382800296782
Bossaert, G., Colpin, H., Pijl, S. J., & Petry, K. (2011). The attitudes of Belgian adolescents towards peers with disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32(2), 504-509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2010.12.033
Bossaert, G., & Petry, K. (2013). Factorial validity of the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps Scale (CATCH). Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(4), 1336-1345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2013.01.007
Brook, U., & Galili, A. (2000). Knowledge and attitudes of high school pupils towards children with special health care needs: an Israeli exploration. Patient Education and Counseling, 40(1), 5-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0738-3991(99)00048-8
Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
Byrne, B. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: basic concepts, applications and programming. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Costello, A., & Osborne, J. (2005). Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: Four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 10(7), 173-178. https://doi.org/10.7275/jyj1-4868
Dancey, C. P., & Reidy, J. (2004). Statistics without maths for psychology: Using SPSS for Windows. Prentice Hall.
de Boer, A., Pijl, S. J., Post, W., & Minnaert, A. (2012a). Which variables relate to the attitudes of teachers, parents and peers towards students with special educational needs in regular education? Educational Studies, 38(4), 433-448. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2011.643109
de Boer, A., Timmerman, M., Pijl, S. J., & Minnaert, A. (2012b). The psychometric evaluation of a questionnaire to measure attitudes towards inclusive education. European Journal of Psychology of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-011-0096-z
Demellweek, C., Humphris, G. M., Hare, M., & Brown, J. (1997). Children's perception of, and attitude towards, unfamiliar peers with facial port-wine stains. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22(4), 471-485. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/22.4.471
Dillenburger, K., Jordan, J. A., McKerr, L., Lloyd, K., & Schubotz, D. (2017). Autism awareness in children and young people: surveys of two populations. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 61(8), 766-777. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12389
Dolan, C. V., & Molenaar, P. C. M. (1994). Testing specific hypotheses concerning latent group differences in multi-group covariance structure analysis with structured means. Multivariate Behavioural Research, 29(3), 203-222. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr2903_1
Findler, L., Vilchinsky, N., & Werner, S. (2007). The Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward Persons with Disabilities (MAS): Construction and validation. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 50(3), 166-176. https://doi.org/10.1177/00343552070500030401
Georgiadi, M., Kalyva, E., Kourkoutas, E., & Tsakiris, V. (2012). Young children’s attitudes toward peers with intellectual disabilities: Effect of the type of school. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 25, 531–541. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-3148.2012.00699.x
Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(2), 139-152. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679190202
Hogan, A., McLellan, L., & Bauman, A. (2000). Health promotion needs of young people with disabilities - a population study. Disability and Rehabilitation, 22(8), 352-357. https://doi.org/10.1080/096382800296593
Holtz, K. D., & Tessman, G. K. (2007). Evaluation of a peer-focused intervention to increase knowledge and foster positive attitudes toward children with tourette syndrome. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 19(6), 531-542. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-007-9042-z
Ison, N., McIntyre, S., Rothery, S., Smithers-Sheedy, H., Goldsmith, S., Parsonage, S., & Foy, L. (2010). 'Just like you': a disability awareness programme for children that enhanced knowledge, attitudes and acceptance: pilot study findings. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 13(5), 360-368. https://doi.org/10.3109/17518423.2010.496764
Jaccard, J. J., & Wan, C. K. (1996). LISREL analyses of interaction effects in multiple regression. Sage Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412984782
Jekauc, D., Voelkle, M., Wagner, M. O., Mewes, N., & Woll, A. (2013). Reliability, validity, and measurement invariance of the German version of the physical activity enjoyment scale. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 38(1), 104-115. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jss088
Kline, R. B. (1998). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. Guilford.
Koster, M., Pijl, S. J., Nakken, H., & Van Houten, E. J. (2010). Social participation of students with special needs in regular primary education in the Netherlands. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 57(1), 59-75. https://doi.org/10.1080/10349120903537905
Little, T. D. (2013). Longitudinal structural equation modeling. Guilford Press.
Llewellyn, A. (2000). Perceptions of mainstreaming: a systems approach. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 42(2), 106-115. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2000.tb00055.x
MacCallum, R. C., Roznowski, M., & Necowitz, L. B. (1992). Model modifications in covariance structure analysis: The problem of capitalization on chance. Psychological Bulletin, 111(3), 490-504. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.111.3.490
McDougall, J., DeWit, D. J., King, K., Miller, L. M., & Killip, S. (2004). High school‐aged youths' attitudes toward their peers with disabilities: the role of school and student. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 51(3), 287-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912042000259242
Morin, D., Rivard, M., Crocker, A. G., Boursier, C. P., & Caron, J. (2013). Public attitudes towards intellectual disability: a multidimensional perspective. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 57(3), 279-292. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12008
Roberts, C. M., & Lindsell, J. S. (1997). Children's attitudes and behavioural intentions towards peers with disabilities. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 44(2), 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1080/0156655970440205
Rosenbaum, P. L., Armstrong, R. W., & King, S. M. (1986). Children's attitudes toward disabled peers: a self-report measure. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 11(4), 517-530. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/11.4.517
Sanches-Ferreira, M., Alves, S., Silveira-Maia, M., Gomes, M., Santos, B., & Lopes-dos-Santos, P. (2019). Participation in Leisure Activities as an Indicator of Inclusion: A comparison between Children with and without Disabilities in Portugal. European Journal of Educational Research., 8, 221-232. https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.8.1.221
Tirosh, E., Schanin, M., & Reiter, S. (1997). Children's attitudes toward peers with disabilities: the Israeli perspective. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 39(12), 811-814. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.1997.tb07548.x
Triandis, H. C. (1971). Attitude and attitude change. John Wiley & Sons.
Vignes, C., Coley, N., Grandjean, H., Godeau, E., & Arnaud, C. (2008). Measuring children's attitudes towards peers with disabilities: a review of instruments. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 50(3), 182-189. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2008.02032.x
Vignes, C., Godeau, E., Sentenac, M., Coley, N., Navarro, F., Grandjean, H., & Arnaud, C. (2009). Determinants of students' attitudes towards peers with disabilities. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 51(6), 473-479. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2009.03283.x
Yu, S., Ostrosky, M. M., & Fowler, S. A. (2012). Measuring young children's attitudes toward peers with disabilities: Highlights from the research. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 32(3), 132-142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271121412453175
Zanna, M. P., & Rempel, J. K. (1988). Attitudes: A new look at an old concept. In D. Bar-Tal & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), The social psychology of knowledge (pp. 315-334). Cambridge University Press.