Content area
Abstract
This thesis examines the effects of different forms of contact with people with intellectual disabilities on children and young people. Contact is seen as a key mechanism to tackling stigma but direct contact can be costly and difficult to implement. Imagined contact has emerged as a promising route to reducing prejudice but to date no studies have tested its effects on children and young people with regards to intellectual disabilities. Part one is a literature review examining the effects of direct and indirect school-based contact on children and young people’s attitudes and behavioural intentions towards peers with intellectual disabilities. The findings indicate that contact with people with intellectual disabilities has a positive effect on children and young people’s attitudes, particularly when the contact is more than one-off, structured and collaborative rather than via inclusive education alone. Many methodological limitations of the evidence are noted with regards to diagnostic labelling, sampling and measurement. Part two presents an empirical study which investigated whether imagining contact with a person with an intellectual disability improves children and young people’s intergroup attitudes, intergroup anxiety, social distance and contact selfefficacy towards people with intellectual disabilities. No statistically significant results were found. The findings are considered in relation to possible explanations, limitations and directions for future research. These include a need for future research examining imagined contact to adjust the intervention to provide a better fit for a school context. Part three is a critical review of the thesis. The review examines the concepts and methodology used and considers wider issues relating to stigma and imagined contact research, and intellectual disabilities. The review concludes with personal reflections on the process of conducting the research.
