Peer Acceptance and Friendships of Students with Disabilities in General Education:The Role of Child, Peer, and Classroom Variables

To understand the difficulties students with disabilities experience in their social participation in general education, this study examined which child, peer, and class variables relate to peer acceptance and friendships. In a cross-sectional study, sociometric data were gathered for students without disabilities (N = 985) and students with disabilities (N = 65), together with personal related variables of students with disabilities, attitudes of peers towards students with disabilities, and classroom information. Using separate social networks for both boys and girls, the findings of the logistic multilevel regression analyses showed different outcomes for peer acceptance of boys and girls with disabilities. The implications of the findings are discussed in the light of possible interventions to improve peer acceptance and friendships of students with disabilities in general primary education.