On the relationship between attitudes towards adolescents with special educational needs and peer interaction.

In line with the international tendency towards inclusion, adolescents with special educational needs (SEN) have increasingly been educated in mainstream secondary schools which creates opportunities for interaction with typically developing peers. However, peer interaction is often problematic with students with SEN having fewer and more negative interactions. These disappointing social outcomes raise the question why students with SEN experience these difficulties. One generally assumed central reason relates to the attitudes that typically developing peers hold towards adolescents with SEN. However, research regarding this hypothesis is scarce and focuses solely on (1) explicit attitude measures disregarding implicit attitude measures, (2) the attitudes of typically developing peers disregarding the attitudes of people with SEN themselves, (3) attitudes at the level of the individual disregarding class and school climate and (4) correlational designs disregarding insight i n the causal nature of the relationship. The current proposal aims to examine the relationship between (1) the implicit and explicit attitudes of adolescents with and without SEN towards peers with SEN at the level of the individual, classroom and school and (2) the degree and quality of interaction between typically developing adolescents and peers with SEN. To establish the causal nature of this relationship we will not only adopt a prospective research strategy, we will also conduct manipulation studies aimed at changing the attitudes towards students with SEN using an evaluative conditioning procedure and a disability awareness program training.