ADAPTED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY QUARTERLY, 1995,12,323-332 O 1995 Human Kinetics Publishers. Inc.

Contact Theory and Attitudes of Children in Physical Education Programs Toward Peers

With Disabilities

April Tripp Ron French Baltimore County Public Schools and Claudine Sherrill

Texas Woman's University

Contact theory was examined by comparing total and subscale attitude scores of children toward peers with disabilities (physical, learning, behavioral) in integrated (contact) and segregated (noncontact) physical education settings. Subjects were 455 children ages 9 to 12 years; class size was 40 to 45. Data were collected using the Peer Attitudes Toward the Handicapped Scale (PATHS). ANOVA on total attitude scores indicated gender differences, with girls having more positive attitudes, but no difference between settings. MANOVA on subscale attitude scores revealed gender differences, favoring girls, only on the physical disability subscale. Setting significantly affected attitudes toward physical and behavioral disabilities but not learning dis- abilities. Children in the integrated setting had significantly more positive attitudes toward peers with behavioral disabilities than those in the segregated setting, but the reverse was true toward peers with physical disabilities. Contact theory was supported by this research for only behavioral disability.

One of the benefits that is supposed to accrue through integration of students with disabilities into regular physical education programs is positive attitudinal changes by nondisabled students (Block & Vogler, 1994; Sherrill, Heikinaro- Johansson, & Slininger, 1994; Watkinson & Titus, 1984). This benefit is supported by contact theory (Allport, 1935; Amir, 1969), which posits that interaction between individuals with differences tends to produce changes in attitudes. How- ever, contact theory in physical education has primarily been supported by philo- sophical rather than empirical foundations (Broadhead, 1985; Craft & Hogan, 1985; Sherrill, 1985; Shenill et al., 1994). Although physical education is one of the primary curricular areas to experience integration (McClenaghan, 1981), little research has been conducted on contact theory and elementary school

April Tripp is with Baltimore County Public Schools, 6901 Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21204. Ron French and Claudine Sherrill are with the Kinesiology Department, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX 76204.

324 Tripp, French, and Shemy1

physical education. Theory-based research in attitude formation is thus needed to provide a framework for understanding the effects of factors such as type of disability, gender, class size, appropriate integration practices, and the relationship between attitude and behavior (Tripp & Sherrill, 1991).

Since 1935, many theories have been proposed to explain how attitudes toward people with disabilities are formed (Donaldson, 1980; Home, 1985; Jones, 1984; Lehrer, 1983; Livneh, 1982). Most attitude theorists agree that contact is an important dimension in attitude formation (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Allport, 1935; Amir, 1969; Rees, 1985; Yuker, 1988).

The direction of attitude change depends largely on the conditions under which contact has taken place; "favorable" conditions tend to produce positive attitude shifts, while "unfavorable" conditions tend to produce negative attitude shifts (Allport, 1935; Amir, 1969). Favorable conditions that tend to improve relations and foster positive attitudes often involve contacts that (a) engender equal status, (b) are rewarding to individuals with and without disabilities, (c) involve common goals that are higher ranking than group goals, and (d) persist over time (Allport, 1935). Conversely, contact can lead to negative attitudes when (a) there is competition between groups; (b) the environment is unpleasant, involuntary, and/or tension laden; and (c) group members as a whole are frustrated.

Thus far, researchers who have tested contact theory have assumed that favorable conditions characterize regular physical education settings. However, findings in regard to contact have been mixed. Kisabeth and Richardson (1985) reported no significant difference between pretest and posttest attitude scores of 41 nondisabled college students who were in frequent contact with a peer with a physical disability in an instructional racquetball class. Stewart (1988), in contrast, reported that contact with two college students with disabilities integrated into a weight training course for 15 weeks produced significant attitude improve- ments for 15 nondisabled students.

The influence of contact on attitudes of young children in daily physical education has been examined by Archie and Sherrill (1989), who compared attitudes of 143 fifth- and sixth-grade students in a mainstreamed school with attitudes of 86 students in a nonmainstreamed school. In the mainstreamed school, 3 or more students with mental, physical, or sensory disabilities were in each physical education class. No significant differences were reported on overall attitude score, but an item-by-item analysis revealed that children in a main- streamed setting rated peers with disabilities as significantly more fun and more interesting than did students in a nonmainstrearned setting.

Other related research shows conflicting findings with elementary school children in classroom settings. Hazzard (1983) and Voeltz (1982) reported that girls had significantly more positive attitudes than boys toward peers with dis- abilities, but other investigators have reported no gender differences (Gottlieb & Gottlieb, 1977; Parish, Ohlsen, & Parish, 1978). Two studies indicated that type of disability made a difference in children's attitudes and that peers with physical disabilities were rated significantly more favorably than those with other dis- abilities (Gottlieb & Gottlieb, 1977; Parish et al., 1978). The latter study reported that children with emotional disabilities were rated the least favorably. It is not clear whether these results generalize to physical activity settings.

Despite the limited research on integrating children with and without dis- abilities in physical education classes (Block & Vogler, 1994; Sherrill et al.,

Attitudes 325

1994), administrators continue to place students with disabilities in regular physi- cal education classes. A body of knowledge is evolving about attitudes of teachers toward students with disabilities (Rizzo, 1984, 1985; Rizzo & Vispoel, 1991; Rizzo & Wright, 1987) which indicates that type of disability, teacher gender, and class size may make a difference. Therefore, it seems logical that these same variables, as well as others, may affect students' attitudes. The primary purpose of this study, therefore, was to compare elementary school children in integrated (contact) and segregated (noncontact) physical education classes on attitudes toward peers, utilizing the PATHS total and subscale scores related to three types of disabilities (physical, learning, and behavioral). The secondary purpose was to compare attitudes of boys and girls.

Method Subjects The research was conducted in two public elementary schools in a northeast Texas city (population 26,260). The integrated school was chosen because it had a program for students with disabilities and because, by virtue of administrative decision, the only time during the school day these students were integrated into a regular program was during physical education. The segregated elementary school selected did not have a program for students with disabilities but did have students with socioeconomic backgrounds and achievement levels similar to the students in the first school.

Subjects were 119 girls and 107 boys in the integrated setting and 122 girls and 107 boys in the segregated setting. All subjects were ages 9 to 12 years. Subjects from these two settings had to meet the following criteria to be included in the study: (a) had never received special education services; (b) had no known physical, emotional, or sensory disabilities; (c) could read at fourth-grade level or above; (d) had parental or guardian permission to participate; and (e) regularly attended physical education 5 days a week for 30 min each day. The primary investigator used school records to screen the subjects. A total of 226 students in integrated physical education and 229 students in segregated physical education were eligible for the study.

The integrated school physical education program included 21 children with disabilities in Grades 4 to 6. Of those 21 children, 7 had physical disabilities, 10 had learning disabilities, and 4 had behavior disabilities. Thus, the potential for interactions with individuals with various disabilities was not equal. Physical education classes ranged in size from 40 to 45 nondisabled students and 3 to 4 students with disabilities. The usual class ratio was about 10:l. The physical education teacher was female, was 38 years old, held a valid teaching credential in physical education, had taught elementary physical education for 15 years, and had a female paraprofessional to assist with the program full time.

The segregated school physical education program had no students with identified disabilities enrolled. The physical education teacher was female, was 41 years old, held a valid teaching credential in physical education, had been teaching elementary physical education for 17 years, and had one full-time female paraprofessional to assist with the program. Physical education classes ranged in size from 40 to 45 students.

326 Tripp, French, and Sherrill

Instrument The Peer Attitudes Toward the Handicapped Scale (PATHS) (Bagley & Green, 1981) was the data collection instrument. It was designed for use in school settings to measure the attitudes of youths 9 to 16 years old toward their peers with disabilities. The purpose of PATHS is to measure expressed attitudes toward disabilities as students make qualitative judgments about behavior descriptions. PATHS is based on the theory that the success of teaching students with and without disabilities in the same setting depends to some extent upon the develop- ment and maintenance of positive attitudes toward students with disabilities on the part of the nondisabled students (Bagley & Green, 1981).

The authors of PATHS provide evidence of adequate construct validity and reliability based on data gathered from a standardization sample of 756 students, ages 9 to 16 years. Construct validity was reported, based on factor analysis and on intercorrelations between subscales and correlations between subscale scores and total scores. Correlations with the demographic variables of grade, age, gender, school location, and school type were not statistically signifi- cant, indicating the independence of the score with respect to these variables. The test manual reported a reliability coefficient of r = .85 and .75 for an odd/ even split and a first-halflsecond-half split, respectively.

PATHS requires that students read 30 short statements describing behaviors that are seen sometimes in school-aged youths with disabilities. Each of the items describes a hypothetical student who has a physical disability, learning difficulties, or behavior problems. After reading the statement, the student circles the number that best describes his or her placement through the use of a Likert-type scale. Five responses are arranged according to most receptive attitude (in my group) toward a student with a disability to least receptive attitude (at home). Following is an example item:

Item 10-Michael is partially deaf in both ears. He wears a hearing aid and has difficulty saying words. His speech sounds different, which makes him hard to understand.

This student should work 5-in my group 4--in another group 3-in no group 2--outside of class 1-at home (Bagley & Green, 1981, p. 3)

In my group is worth 5 points, in another group is worth 4 points, in no group is worth 3 points, outside of class is worth 2 points, and a t home is worth 1 point. The ratings for each of the 30 items are totaled. A high score reflects a positive attitude toward peers with disabilities, and a low score reflects a negative attitude toward peers with disabilities. The highest score is 150, while the lowest possible score is 30.

PATHS contains three subscales: physical, learning, and behavioral. The physical subscale describes disabilities that are physiological in nature. Examples of physical conditions included are blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, and heart conditions. The learning subscale relates to areas such as study skills, difficulty

Attitudes 327

with school subjects, learning rate, fluency in reading, and other learning skills. Moderately serious problems are depicted. The behavioral subscale pertains to serious emotional and psychological difficulties. Students with aggressive behav- ior in classroom settings are included in this classification.

Procedures PATHS was administered by the regular physical education teacher according to the administration procedures outlined in the PATHS handbook (Bagley & Green, 1981). The primary investigator trained the physical educators on instru- mentation and was present to see that all procedures were followed exactly. Data collection time was limited to the 30-min class period.

The research design was quasiexperimental (ex post facto design) in that real-world intact groups were used. The dependent variable was attitude toward disabled peers (total and subscore attitudes), and the independent variable was contact with children with disabilities in a physical education setting. No pretest was administered. Analysis of variance was used to examine the influence of age, years in specific setting, and gender. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine attitudes toward different disabling conditions. The alpha level was set at .05 and corrected by the Bonferroni technique to .017 to minimize experiment-wise error rate (Thomas & Nelson, 1990).

The integrated and segregated settings were similar on many variables: class size, gender, age, years of experience of teacher, and presence of teacher and paraprofessional. Instruction in both the integrated and segregated classes was guided by the Essential Elements curriculum mandated by the state education agency. However, a limitation of ex post facto designs is the inability to control or match all variables that might affect student attitude. Among the uncontrolled variables were day-to-day teacher and student behaviors and interactions, the specific content taught, and discipline measures applied.

Results The means for PATHS total for the integrated and segregated groups were quite similar, 90.70 and 92.44, respectively. Based on the standardization sample used by Bagley and Green (1981), these means can be interpreted as representing average attitude for all groups (see Table 1).

One-way analyses of variance indicated there were no significant differ- ences for the means of PATHS total score when grouped by four age groups, F(3,451) = 1.54, p = .20, and 6 possible years of contact in the specific setting, F(5, 220) = 1.38, p = .23. Therefore, it was decided not to use these as grouping factors in further statistical analyses.

A 2 x 2 analysis of variance (Setting x Gender) was used to examine differences between the means of the total PATHS scores. Gender of the subjects did make a significant difference when the means of PATHS total scores were compared, F(l, 451) = 6.17, p < .01. Females had a significantly higher mean score for PATHS total than their male peers (see Table 1).

The means of the subscale scores for physical, learning, and behavior disabilities across physical education setting and gender (see Table I), if put in

328 Tripp, French, and Sherrill

Table 1 PATHS Total and Subscale Attitude Scores

Setting Subscale Range

Integrated Total (n = 226)

Physical Learning Behavior

Girls (n = 119) Physical Learning Behavior Total

Boys (n = 107) Physical Learning Behavior Total

Segregated Total (n = 229)

Physical Learning Behavior

Girls (n = 122) Physical Learning Behavior Total

Boys (n = 107) Physical Learning Behavior Total

Note. PATHS total score by gender was females, M = 93.52; SD = 18.49; males, M = 89.38, SD = 16.69.

rank order, indicate that the physical subscale had the high score, the learning subscale was the middle value, and the behavior subscale was lowest. A 2 x 2 multivariate analysis of variance (Setting x Gender) was conducted to determine whether attitudes toward different disabilities were significant. The overall multi- variate F value was significant for the physical education setting, F(3, 449) = 15.76, p c .01. The dependent variables that contributed to differences between physical education settings were the physical, F(l, 451) = 16.70, p < .01, and behavioral, F(l, 451) = 11.59,~ < .Ol, disability subscales. Post hoc tests revealed that for setting, students who attended the integrated physical education program

Attitudes 329

had significantly poorer attitudes toward peers with physical disabilities and signif~cantly better attitudes toward peers with behavioral disabilities than did those stadents attending a segregated physical education program. However, those students attending an integrated physical education program had signifi- cantly better attitudes toward peers with behavioral disabilities than those at- tending a segregated physical education program.

The overall multivariate F value was also significant for gender, F(3,449) = 3.96, p < .01. The only contribution to differences between gender was made by the physical disability subscale, F( l , 45 1) = 10.13, p < .01. Post hoc tests revealed that for gender, girls had significantly better attitudes toward peers with physical disabilities than did boys.

Discussion In this study no differences in overall attitudes toward peers with disabilities were apparent between the children who participated in an integrated and segregated physical education setting with regard to their total attitude score on PATHS. This finding supports other research which reveals that children who attend an integrated school program do not view peers with disabilities differently than do children attending a segregated school program (Archie & Sherrill, 1989; Wein- berg, 1978). All such research, like the present study, has employed an ex post facto design. This means that two naturalistic settings are compared just as they are because it is not possible to randomly assign students to schools or teachers. In ex post facto designs, differences between groups are described but a cause-effect relationship cannot be proven (Thomas & Nelson, 1990). Instead, it is simply observed that certain attitudes are associated with integrated and segregated physical education settings.

The findings of the present study seem to indicate that contact with children with disabilities in a physical education setting is not associated with overall or total attitude toward disabilities. Yuker (1988) concluded that contact between individuals with and without disabilities must be direct and personal to produce positive attitudes. Weinberg (1978) reported that very intense contact situations are needed to cause major attitude changes in children. Establishing close contact situations in physical education classes of approximately 40 children without disabilities and 3 or 4 children with disabilities can be difficult (Rider, 1980).

There was a difference between girls and boys with respect to overall attitude scores toward peers with disabilities. Several researchers support the finding that whether children are in integrated or segregated environments, girls have generally demonstrated more favorable attitudes toward peers with dis- abilities than have boys (Hazzard, 1983; Voeltz, 1982).

When the PATHS subscale scores for disability type are examined indepen- dently, significant differences are revealed. The children who attended the inte- grated physical education program had significantly lower attitudes toward physical disability (M = 38.28) than those attending a segregated physical educa- tion program (M = 42.07). The children attending the integrated physical education program may perceive contact with their peers with physical disabilities as nega- tive. According to contact theory, a factor that may foster negative attitude formation is competition (Arnir, 1969). In general, most physical education classes

330 Tripp, French, and Sherrill

contain competition to some degree, whether it be with oneself or with others. The existence of competition that is not modified to be equitable for all children in physical education may be a bamer to the formation of positive attitudes toward peers with disabilities. An analysis of the types of teaching methods and activities that might best stimulate positive attitudes in an integrated physical education setting is recommended for future study.

Children in the integrated setting viewed peers with behavioral disabilities more favorably (M = 21.05) than did those in a segregated setting (M = 19.51). It is difficult to interpret this finding since the reverse occurred in relation to peers with physical disabilities. However, this finding could be attributed to the specific children in the integrated physical educationprogram, since there were no controls on the characteristics of these children. Contact theory posits that settings which emphasize the normality of the person with a disability are associ- ated with positive attitude formation (Amir, 1969). Children in the integrated physical education setting may view their peers with behavioral disabilities as more normal and capable in the physical education setting than those peers with visible physical disabilities. It is also possible that the children without disabilities in this A d y thought that their peers with behavioral disabilities were entertaining in their various classroom disruptions and liked their presence in class.

Children with learning disabilities were viewed similarly, but not signifi- cantly so, by children in the integrated physical education program (M = 31.30) and children in the segregated physical education program (M = 30.86). Instruc- tional environment plays an important role in the quality of the contact between individuals (Amir, 1969). An organized and low-stress climate versus a climate of frustration may influence the attitudes of children toward peers with learning disabilities. An analysis of the environmental factors within the physical education setting that facilitate positive interactions between children with and without disabilities is recommended for future study.

The PATHS subscale scores indicate a definite preference of one disabling condition over another. The finding that all the groups viewed peers (see Table 1) with a physical disability more favorably than the other two disabilities (learn- ing and behavior) was expected. Peers with learning disabilities were preferred second and peers with behavioral disabilities were preferred the least. In previous research, when children were asked to state a preference between peers with physical, learning, or behavioral disabilities, peers with physical disabilities were evaluated more favorably than peers with the other two conditions (Gottlieb & Gottlieb, 1977; Parish et al., 1978). Positive attitude formation also has been associated with contact that is supported by societal and institutional norms (Amir, 1969; Yuker, 1988). It is possible that as a society we do not portray different disabilities in the same light. Information in the form of facts, hearsay, rumors, prestige associations, gestures, and appearance that is transmitted through all types of media may be more favorable in relation to physical disabilities than learning and behavioral disabilities. An analysis of the social interactions and information that facilitate the development of positive attitudes toward peers with different disability types is therefore recommended for future study.

Applying theories and understanding the nature of children's disability- related attitudes is a complicated issue. Results of research concerned with overall global attitudes of children without disabilities toward their peers with disabilities have been equivocal. Conversely, examination of specific dimensions such as

Attitudes 331

disability subscale scores shows a definite hierarchy of attitude preferences. These findings support the possibility of multidimensionality in attitudes similar to the belief that self-concept is not the sum of all its parts but rather a multifaceted structure that becomes increasingly complex (Fox & Corbin, 1989; Harter, 1985). This evidence suggests that to further investigate integration in physical education as a factor influencing attitude change in nondisabled children, researchers must differentiate between global and specific dimensions of attitude, as well as exarn- ine environmental and methodological conditions in the physical education pro- gram-

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