Children’s attitudes towards peers with special educational needs (SEN) are of major importance for social participation in inclusive classrooms. Following Eagly and Chaiken (1993), an attitude is understood as “a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor” (p. 1). In particular, the parental role model behavior is considered to be a key influencing factor for children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN. In the recent years, primary school students’ attitudes towards peers with SEN have been investigated with the aim of a better understanding of opportunities and limitations concerning the social participation of children in inclusive classrooms (e.g., de Boer, Pijl, & Minnaert, 2012a; Schwab, 2017).

Individual (e.g., children’s contact experiences with peers with SEN), institutional (e.g., class level, the role of the teacher in inclusive classrooms) as well as extra-institutional variables (e.g., the role of parents and siblings) were examined as influencing factors for children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN. Until now, concrete cause-effect relationships concerning the genesis of children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN are still unclear. In particular, the importance of the parental role model behavior for children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN is not yet fully investigated. However, there is empirical evidence given for the important role of parental role behavior for children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN (de Boer, Pijl, Post, & Minnaert, 2012b; Innes & Diamond, 1999) as illustrated by the theory of social referencing (Feinman, 1992). The theory of social referencing describes children’s behavior orientation towards that of significant others’ (e.g., parents, teachers). In their study, de Boer et al. (2012b) found, very clearly, that parental attitudes towards children with SEN had a significant effect on children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN. Thereby, de Boer et al. (2012b) assumed that children whose parents hold positive attitudes might be more likely to accept peers with SEN in inclusive classrooms. The role of the parental role-model behavior for children’s willingness to interact with peers with SEN also becomes obvious in a study by Innes and Diamond (1999). The authors investigated the relationship between mothers’ comments on disabilities and children’s ideas about disabilities as well as their willingness to interact with peers with SEN in the classrooms. The results from this study indicate moderate positive correlations between mothers’ comments on disabilities and children’s ideas about disabilities. In addition, children with more ideas about disabilities even showed more willingness to interact with peers with disabilities.

Furthermore, current research also shows the importance of children’s contact experiences with peers with SEN as well as their self-cognitions (e.g. social self-concepts, self-efficacy beliefs concerning interpersonal skills) for their attitudes towards peers with SEN (e.g., Armstrong, Morris, Abraham, & Tarrant, 2017; Freitag & Dunsmuir, 2015; Schwab, 2017).

Against this background, we assume that primary school students’ attitudes towards peers with learning disabilities can significantly be predicted by their perceptions of their parental behavior towards children with learning disabilities, their social self-concepts, their contact experiences with children with SEN as well as their self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills (H₁). On the basis of the theory of social referencing (Feinman, 1992), we expect children’s perceptions of their parental behavior towards peers with learning disabilities to increase or decrease their self-efficacy beliefs. These processes affect primary school students’ attitudes towards peers with learning disabilities. Thus, we hypothesize that effects of children’s perceptions of their parental behavior on their attitudes towards peers with learning disabilities are significantly mediated by their self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills (H₂).

In our study, N=743 primary school students from Germany were asked to fill out a questionnaire. In detail, 358 girls and 385 boys participated in our study. Children’s average age was nine years (M=8,95; SD=0,80; range: 7-11 years). Because of ethical concerns, none of the primary school students were taught in inclusive classrooms in primary schools. In our study, children were asked to fill in a questionnaire. They provided information on their attitudes towards peers with learning disabilities as well as on their social self-concepts, their self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills, their contact experiences and their perceptions of their parental behavior towards peers with SEN. Children’s attitudes towards a hypothetical peer with learning disabilities were measured on the basis of a gender-specific vignette (“Susanne/Markus has just moved to your town and attends the same class as you. Susanne/Markus indicates severe problems in reading, writing, and calculating. She/he needs much more time than other students at her/his age to do schoolwork.”). Based on the work of de Boer, Pijl, Minnaert, and Post (2014), the vignette was developed by Schwab (2015). Children’s attitudes towards this hypothetical peer with learning disabilities were assessed with items of the “Chedoke-McMaster attitudes towards children with handicaps scale” (Rosenbaum, Armstrong, & King, 1986). The scale comprised ten items (e.g., “I would feel good about working on a school project with Susanne/Markus.”; α=.90). In addition, a scale was applied to investigate children’s social self-concepts (4 items; e.g., “I get along well with my classmates.”; α=.79). We adapted this questionnaire scale from a study by Avramidis (2013). Furthermore, a scale was applied to investigate children’s contact experiences (7 items; e.g., “I have often played with someone like Susanne/Markus.”; α=.92). We adapted this scale from Rosenbaum et al. (1989) and translated it into German. Following Wheeler and Ladd (1982), we developed a scale to measure children’s self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills (5 items; e.g., “If a classmate has learning problems, it’s easy for me to help her/him”; α=.82). Finally, a scale was applied to investigate children’s perceived parental behavior (9 items; e.g., “My parents would be pleased if Susanne/Markus attends the same class like me”; α=.89). This questionnaire scale was developed on the basis of scales from Rosenbaum et al. (1986). Children rated their agreement on a 5-point Likert scale (1=totally disagree to 5=totally agree) for each item.

The results indicate that primary school students hold positive attitudes towards peers with learning disabilities (M=3.99; SD=0.78). Furthermore, students have high social self-concepts (M=3.97; SD=0.87) and high self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills (M=4.10, SD=0.75). They evaluate their parental behavior towards peers with SEN as positive in general (M=4.08, SD=0.76). More than half of them have contact experiences with peers with SEN (M=2.44, SD=1.27). For the evaluation of our hypotheses, a structural equation model was calculated in Mplus (version 6; Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2010). The empirical structural equation model shows a good fit to the theoretical model structure (χ2=1134.62, df=610, χ2/df=1.86, p≤.001; CFI=.94; TLI=.94; RMSEA=.03; pclose=1.00). Supporting hypothesis H1, the results of the structural equation model indicate that children’s attitudes towards peers with learning disabilities can be explained by their perceived parental behavior, their contact experiences with peers with SEN, and their self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills. Not supporting hypotheses H1, primary school students’ attitudes towards peers with learning disabilities are not predicted by their social self-concepts. Primary school students’ self-efficacy beliefs are explained by their perceived parental behavior towards peers with SEN as well as their social self-concepts. However, children’s self-efficacy beliefs are not significantly explained by their contact experiences with peers with SEN. Supporting hypothesis H2, the effect of children’s perceptions of their parental behavior on their attitudes towards peers with learning disabilities is significantly mediated by their self-efficacy beliefs. Overall, the results of our study point out the relevance of children’s perceived parental behavior for their attitudes towards peers with SEN as well as for their self-efficacy beliefs concerning their interpersonal skills. In view of practical implications, parents should be a part of future intervention programs in primary school to positively affect children’s attitudes towards peers with SEN (de Boer et al., 2012b).

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