Children's attitudes toward physically handicapped peers

The present study is a detailed exploration of children's attitudes toward physically handicapped peers. Subjects were 52 children, 26 handicapped and 26 nonhandicapped, ranging from 2nd through 8th grade. Along with 11 drawings depicting various physical impairments, children were administered an adjective checklist measure to assess affective responses toward target pictures, a preference questionnaire to assess behavioral intentions toward target pictures, a ranking task to assess perceptions of the physical capabilities of the target pictures, and a social desirability questionnaire to assess the children's desire to appear socially acceptable. In general, results indicated that older nonhandicapped children were more positive toward handicapped peers than were younger children and this was especially true for target pictures they perceived as least physically active. In addition, handicapped children held less positive attitudes toward the more “normal” target pictures than did nonhandicapped children. The present findings have important implications for the mainstreaming of physically handicapped children.