JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH-SCHOOL MUSIC STUDENTS ATTITUDES TOWARD INDIVIDUALS WITH A DISABILITY

The purpose of the present study was to: (a) assess junior and senior high school music students' attitudes toward disabled persons, and (b) expand upon the existing literature by differentiating between disability groups and extending the age range of subjects. A questionnaire, the Disability Factor Scale (Siller, Ferguson, Vann, & Holland, 1967), was administered during three summer music camps at a large mid-western university campus. Of 752 questionnaires administered, 699 were completed correctly and used for subsequent analyses. These surveys represented 424 junior high school students and 275 senior high school students from 19 states. Results indicated that the junior high school students expressed a lower level of sensitivity toward people with disabilities than did the senior high school students with regard to all disabilities but one. Further results showed that females demonstrated a more accepting attitude toward people with a disability than did males in every disability subscale. While junior high and senior high campers as well as males and females differed in the degree to which they were accepting of people with disabilities, a rank ordering of disabilities from the most to the least acceptable revealed that the three most accepted disabilities for both gender and age groups were: (a) visible scars, (b) heart condition, and (c) deafness. There was also overwhelming agreement regarding the three least acceptable conditions, which were paralysis, AIDS, and blindness. Implications for music therapists and music educators are cited.