Open AccessStavovi studenata različitog profesionalnog usmjerenja prema osobama s tjelesnim teškoćama
Author(s) -
Anita Pedisić
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
radovi
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2806-8432
pISSN - 0352-6798
DOI - 10.15291/radovifpsp.2536
Subject(s) - psychology , anxiety , scale (ratio) , social psychology , physical education , cognition , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , mathematics education , psychiatry , physics , quantum mechanics
Many studies have shown that attitudes towards handicapped persons differ according to various professional orientations. This study investigated the attitudes of students of special education (N=109) and students of economy (N=115) towards physically handicapped persons. The criterion variable of attitudes were represented by scales which reflect two factors of the cognitive components of attitudes (“The implication of deviant characteristics and the segregation of physically handicapped persons”) and one factor pertaining to the affective component (“Unease in interaction”). The results showed differences in the attitudes of the two groups of students which were to be expected. Namely, the students of special education expressed fewer negative attitudes towards physically handicapped persons both on the cognitive and on the affective scale measures. With the aim of discovering the predictors of attitude, scales were also used which examined how much the students expressed fear of the negative evaluation of physically handicapped persons (as an indicator of social anxiety), to what measure they establish contact with these persons and how essential they hold the physical appearance of other persons. It was shown that students of special education had less fear of the possibility of negative evaluation, were less directed to the physical appearance of other persons and established a more frequent and more qualitative contact with physically handicapped persons. Considering the results of regressive analysis which showed a similar constellation of attitude predictors amongst students with different professional orientations and the significant differences in the results of predictive variables, maybe the less negative attitudes amongst students of special education can be explained by their lesser anxiety and fear concerning proper behaviout, the better relationship which they establish with physically handicapped persons and the lesser extent to which they are orientated towards the outer appearance of others. Considering the specific education these students acquire such an explanation seems plausible.