Attitudes of typically developing peers are described as a crucial variable in the inclusion process of students with disabilities within regular education classrooms (Vignes et al., 2008). Research findings show that positive peer attitudes can facilitate the social and academic development of children with disabilities included in regular schools (Cook & Semmel, 1999; Cutts & Sigafoos, 2001). However, despite the efforts in the implementation of educational policies fostering inclusive practices, it seems that typically developing students still endorse negative attitudes towards their peers with disabilities (McDougall, DeWit, King, Miller, & Killip, 2004).
Attitudes are often defined as a multidimensional concept, including: the cognitive domain of ideas and beliefs; the affective domain of emotional feelings; and the behavioural domain of intended actions (Triandis, 1971). Attitudes are also described as ‘‘learned predispositions reflecting how favourable or unfavourable people are towards other people, objects or events’’ (Triandis, 1971, p. 266). According with this perspective, attitudes change can be targeted in intervention programs. However, the design of such programs requires a thorough understanding of how attitudes develop and a detailed knowledge of factors influencing their development. Consequently, a considerable body of research within the special education field has been addressing students’ attitudes towards their peers with disabilities (Bossaert, Colpin, Pijl, & Petry, 2011; Yu, Ostrosky, & Fowler, 2012).
In Portugal, evidence regarding how included children are accepted by their typically developing classmates is still scarce. The present study, part of a wider project, reports the development of a valid and reliable Portuguese version of the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps scale ([CATCH] Rosenbaum, Armstrong, & King, 1986).
The Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps scale is a self-report measure created to assess students’ attitudes towards their peers with disabilities. In a recent literature review of 19 wide used tools, the CATCH was appraised as being one of the most complete instruments since it includes all three attitude components – cognitive, affective, and behavioural – and presents good psychometric properties (Vignes et al., 2008). The CATCH has already been used in countries such as France (Vignes et al., 2008), Netherlands (de Boer, Pijl, Post, & Minnaert, 2012), Belgium (Bossaert et al., 2011) and Israel (Tirosh, Schanin, & Reiter, 1997) showing to be a reliable and valid assessment tool.
In our study, the main purposes were: (a) to establish the equivalence between the original English and the Portuguese version of the CATCH scale; (b) to determine its reliability; (c) to check the validity of the three attitude components construct in the Portuguese version of the scale; (d) to identify factors independently associated with more positive attitudes.

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