Children’s contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards disability: a cross-sectional study

PublishedArticleThis is a pre-print of an article subsequently published in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2015.Purpose: To explore the association between children’s self-reported contact with people with disabilities and attitudes towards them, as well the potential mediating influence of anxiety about interacting with people with disabilities and empathy for them. Method: 1,881 children, aged 7-16 years, from 20 schools in South West England completed a survey assessing their contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards them. Anxiety about interacting with people with disabilities and empathy towards them were examined as potential mediators. Gender, school year, perceived similarity between people with and without disabilities, proportion of children with additional needs at the school and socioeconomic status were assessed as moderators. A random effects (‘multilevel’) regression model was used to test the contact-attitude association and moderation, and path analysis was used to test for mediation. Results: Participants with more self-reported contact reported more positive attitudes towards disability (p