Korean College Students’ Attitudes toward Disability and Inclusive Education: Latent Profile Analysis

Yun-Jeong Shin,Eun Ji,Soyoung Park

doi:10.1007/s12144-022-02856-y

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to explore the differences in cognitive-behavioral attitudes and emotional connectedness toward people with disabilities (PWDs) and the attitudes toward inclusive education. In total, 309 college students from various universities in South Korea aged from 18 to 29 years (177 male and 130 female) voluntarily participated in this study. The participants were completed a set of questionnaires: Social Distance Toward Disabilities scale, Interaction with Disabled Person Scale, and Teachers’ Attitudes toward Inclusive Education Scale. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to model four distinct types: distant (3.56%), lukewarm (73.91%), rationalizing (8.41%), and potential proactive (14.12%). The majority of participants were lukewarm type who had a slightly cognitive-behavioral distance with mediocre empathy toward PWDs, which links to vague stands toward inclusive education. Potential proactive type, the second largest group, showed a positive attitude toward inclusive education with a high level of empathy but still had ambivalent perceptions toward PWDs. The rationalizing and distant groups had one thing in common that they had a relatively low level of empathy toward PWDs, but showed a markedly opposite position in inclusive education. The findings indicate that interventions should be tailored based on the type-specific attitudes and experiences with PWDs in public and educational settings.

Highlights

With a focus on accessibility and advocacy, the topic of how psychology can better serve the people with disabilities (PWDs) has been addressed in several conventions since 1970s which later led to the launch of the Committee on Disability Issues (American Psychological Association, 2012)
This study investigated whether we can categorize people based on the differences in their cognitive-behavioral attitudes and emotional connectedness toward PWDs, as well as their overall attitude toward inclusive education
The models with four and five latent classes had lower Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and adjusted Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC) values than the other models, and the Lo–Mendell Rubin Likelihood Ratio Test (LMR-LRT) and Bootstrap Likelihood Ratio Test (BLRT) were more significant in the model with four latent classes

Summary

Introduction

With a focus on accessibility and advocacy, the topic of how psychology can better serve the people with disabilities (PWDs) has been addressed in several conventions since 1970s which later led to the launch of the Committee on Disability Issues (American Psychological Association, 2012). Able-bodied privilege, which refers to the unearned privilege held by individuals without disabilities. Can be expressed via their attitudes toward PWDs and inclusive education. Inclusive education refers to the transformational process of constant improvement within schools and education system to provide welcoming and participatory learning experiences for all students, irrespective of the range of abilities or disabilities (UNESCO, 2016). If an individual reported explicitly to have positive attitudes toward disability

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