Preschoolers' Acceptance of Peers with Disabilities: A Cross Cultural Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine Indian and American children‟s acceptance of peers with disabilities through 108 interviews with preschoolers and survey data from 113 parents. Analyses of the data showed that children‟s perceptions of peers with disabilities varied with age, gender, and nationality. Overall, Indian children were more accepting of peers with disabilities than American children, and girls were more accepting than boys of peers with disabilities. Finally, contrary to the expectation that parents and children would have similar levels of acceptance of children with disabilities, Indian children were more accepting than their parents, whereas American children were less accepting than their parents.