ADAPTED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY QUARTERLY, 1995, 12. 151-160 O 1995 Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc. Attitudes Toward Teaching individuals With Disabilities: Application of Planned Behavior Theory Yannis Theodorakis Democritos Univ. of Thrace Konstantinos Bagiatis Aristotle Univ. of Thessaloniki Marios Goudas University of Exeter The aim of this study was to examine attitudes and intentions of physical education students toward teaching individuals with disabilities. The planned behavior model and two exogenous variables (attitude strength and role identity) were used to examine antecedents of students' intentions for teaching individuals with disabilities in the future. The sample consisted of 99 university students taking adapted physical education courses. Structural equation modeling analysis showed that the role identity and attitude strength variables mediated the effects of subjective norms and attitudes toward behavior on intention. Also, perceived behavioral control was not a direct determinant of intention but affected the attitude strength variable. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical as well as practical implications for understanding attitude-behavior relationships in physical education for special populations. It seems that professionals' intentions to work with individuals with disabilities are formed as part of their role identity in the society and are affected by professionals' attitude confidence toward teaching individuals with disabilities. Recently, much attention has been directed toward the attitudes of future professionals working with students with disabilities (Stewart, 1990). It has been argued that this particular focus stems from the belief that creating more positive attitudes toward individuals with disabilities in physical education professionals will result in enhanced and successful integration of individuals with disabilities in regular classes (Stewart, 1988). Moreover, theory-based research on attitude Yannis Theodorakis is with the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Democritos University of Thrace, 69100, Komotini, Greece. Konstantinos Bagiatis is with the Department of Physical Education & Sport Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. Marios Goudas is with the School of Education, University of Exeter, Exeter, U.K.
152 Theodorakis, Bagiatis, and Goudas formation can provide the basis for successful educational interventions. Further, Tripp and Shemll (1991) stated that teacher training must broaden to include scholarly study in relation to social psychology and attitude theory. According to Fishbein and Middlestadt (1987), understanding the determinants of a behavior is the first step in the development of educational intervention to change that behavior. Thus, in the area of adapted physical education, research would benefit by the use of current attitude theories (Tripp & Sherrill, 1991). Several models have been proposed to account for the relationship between attitudes and behavior. One of these models that has been found effective is the planned behavior model (Ajzen, 1988; Ajzen & Madden, 1986), an adaptation of the reasoned action model (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1977). According to this model, the main antecedent of behavior is the individual's intention to perform the behavior. In turn, intention is determined by a combination of three factors: (a) attitude toward the behavior (positive or negative predisposition toward a specific behavior), (b) subjective norms (the social pressure on the subject to perform the behavior, or the perception of what significant others want), and (c) perceived behavioral control (the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior). More extensively, behavior is a function of beliefs related to the behavior. The behavioral beliefs determine the attitude toward the behavior, and the normative beliefs indicate whether important others would approve or disapprove of the behavior. Moreover, irrespective of a person's intention, there may be some obstacles preventing him or her from carrying out the behavior. Perceived behavioral control expresses individual beliefs about the ease or difficulty of performing a specific behavior. These beliefs relate to the presence or absence of requisite Yesources or opportunities as they are perceived by the person. Empirical research over the past 15 years has provided evidence in support of the theory in a variety of experimental and naturalistic settings (e.g., Ajzen & Driver, 1991; Bagozzi, 1981; Beck & Ajzen, 1991; Vallerand, Deshaies, Cuerrier, Pelletier, & Mongeau, 1992). A number of studies have applied the planned behavior model to sport and physical activity settings (e.g., Bentler & Speckart, 1981; Godin, Valois, & Lepage, 1993; Greenockle, Lee, & Lomax, 1990; Kimiecik, 1992; Theodorakis, 1992). Rizzo and Vispoel (1991, 1992) used the reasoned action model as a basis for their Physical Education Attitudes Toward Teaching the Handicapped instrument. Shenill(1993) demonstrated the importance of the theory in examining teachers' personal and normative beliefs regarding adapting instruction for students with disabilities in a mainstream class. Some researchers have proposed that adding exogenous variables to the planned behavior model would increase its predictive ability. For example, researchers (Charng, Piliavin, & Callero, 1988; Sparks & Shepherd, 1992) introduced the concept of role identity as a mediator factor in the attitude-behavior relationship. Role identity can be defined as a particular social object that represents a dimension of the self. It serves as a link between the individual self and society (Callero, 1985). The concept is based on Burke's (1980) identity theory, in which an individual's self-concept is organized into a hierarchy of role identities that correspond to one's position in the social structure, such as parent, spouse, or employee (Charng et al., 1988). Biddle, Bank, and Slavings (1987) argued that understanding and prediction of behaviors will be improved by models that
Planned Behavior Theory 153 take account of one's own preferences, norms, self-identities, and intentions. In the sport context, Curry and Weiss (1989) concluded that motivation for sport participation is likely to be influenced by the values of the sport organization as well as the sport and the gender identities of the participant. Another variable that has been shown to enhance the attitude-behavior relationship is attitude strength. In two articles, Raden (1985, 1989) reviewed a number of attitude dimensions (e.g., accessibility, affective-cognitive consistency, certainty, crystallization, direct experience, importance, intensity, stability) that represent properties associated with "attitude strength." Attitude strength expresses not only the direction (e.g., positive-negative, good-bad) of attitudes but also their confidence and strength. Raden noted that "attitude measurement will be improved if several dimensions are used and if moderating as well as direct predictive effects are considered" (Raden, 1985, p. 312). Furthermore, Liska (1984) noted that attitude properties could be conceptualized as indices or dimensions of an unmeasured general property termed attitude strength. For the purposes of this study, attitude strength was conceptualized as a variable that expresses how positive, strong, and important are the attitudes toward a given behavior. Tripp and Sherrill (1992) noted that further research is needed in adapted physical education to understand the relationship between attitude and behavior. Theodorakis (1994) showed that the variables of role identity and attitude strength increased the predictive ability of the model of planned behavior to a greater extent than attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Therefore, role identity and attitude strength are mediator variables of attitudes and subjective norms. In order to expand these findings, the purpose of the present study was to examine whether role identity and attitude strength variables would also mediate the effects of attitudes and subjective norms on students' intentions for teaching with individuals with disabilities. As can be seen in Figure 1, it was hypothesized that future professionals' intentions to work with individuals with disabilities are affected by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral Attitudes behavior Perceived behavioral Intention 4 Subjective identity Figure 1 - Hypothesized model of antecedents of intentions.
154 Theodorakis, Bagiatis, and Goudas control. Further, it was hypothesized that future professionals' role identity in the society and their attitude strength toward teaching individuals with disabilities mediate these effects. Subjects Method The sample consisted of 99 (42 males and 57 females) university physical education students (18 to 20 years of age) who were attending an optional adapted physical activity course, in a university located in northern Greece. None of the subjects had any previous experience with individuals with disabilities. It should be noted that this sampling design may limit the generalizability of the findings. Subjects' participation in the study was voluntary. Instrumentation Six variables were measured: intention, attitudes toward teaching, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, role identity, and attitude strength. In order to ensure the validity of the scales, procedures described by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) were strictly followed. Cronbach's alpha was used to examine their internal reliability. The verbiage of the items is direct translation from the Greek language. Intention was estimated by the total score on the responses to three different items: "I intendl I will try/ I am determined to teach individuals with disabilities during the next years." Responses to the first item were rated on a 7-point likely to unlikely scale, while a 7-point scale with endpoints labeled yes sure to not at all was used for the other two items (Cronbach's alpha was.91). Perceived behavioral control was estimated by four items. The first item was, "If I wanted to, I could teach individuals with disabilities during the next years," with responses ranging from likely to unlikely. The second item was, "For me to teach individuals with disabilities during the next years, is..." with responses rated on a 7-point scale from easy to dificult. The third item was, "How much control do you exert over teaching individuals with disabilities during the next years?" with responses given on a 7-point scale from complete control to very little control. The fourth item was, "I believe I have the resources required to teach individuals with disabilities during the next years," with responses given on a 7-point scale from true to false. Cronbach's alpha for this scale was.76. Attitude toward behavior was assessed by the statement, "I think that teaching individuals with disabilities during the next years is...." Responses were rated on five bipolar adjectives (i.e., good-bad, pleasant-unpleasant, foolish-wise, attractive-unattractive, nice-awful). Again, 7-point scales were used. Cronbach's alpha for this scale was 25. Subjective norms were assessed with two statements: "If I teach individuals with disabilities during the next years, most people who are important to me would approve or disapprove" and "If I teach individuals with disabilities during the next years, most people whom I know would approve or disapprove." This score was multiplied by the responses to a 7-point scale for the item, "Generally speaking, how much do you want to do what most people who are important to
Planned Behavior Theory 155 you think you should do?"- which assessed subjects' motivation to comply. Cronbach's alpha for this scale was 22. Four items were used to measure the role identity variable. These were based on items used in a relevant study (Theodorakis, 1994). The items were, "To teach individuals with disabilities during the next years is an important part of myself," ''I am the type of person oriented to teach individuals with disabilities during the next years," "It is in my character to teach individuals with disabilities during the next years," and "I am a person who must teach individuals with disabilities during the next years." Responses were given on 7-point agreedisagree scales, which were summed for a total score (Cronbach's alpha =.90). The attitude strength variable was created from six strength-related attitude dimensions that were perceived as more representative for the examined behavior: importance, confidence, certainty, centrality, skill, and knowledge. Again, the scale's construction was based on items selected from a relevant study (Theodorakis, 1994). Items are as follows: "How certain are you about teaching individuals with disabilities during the next years?" (very certain-very uncertain); "How confident are you about your regular teaching of individuals with disabilities during the next years?" (not confident~onfident); "For me to teach individuals with disabilities during the next years is..." (very essential-not essential); "I have the requisite abilities to teach individuals with disabilities during the next years" (agree-disagree); ''I have the strength to teach individuals with disabilities during the next years" (agree-disagree); and "Do you really believe that you will teach individuals with disabilities during the next years?" (no-yes). All responses were given on 7-point scales, which were summed for a total score. The reliability coefficient (Cronbach alpha =.90) was considered very satisfactory. To examine the factor structure of the attitude strength scale, factor analysis with orthogonal varimax rotation was used. Only one factor was extracted, accounting for 56.5% of the variance. All six items loaded on this factor, supporting the single dimensionality of the attitude strength scale. Therefore, the construct validity of the attitude strength scale was established. Furthermore, the validity of role identity and attitude strength variables is discussed extensively by Theodorakis (1994). Results Descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients are presented in Table 1. Significant correlations were observed between (a) intention and attitudes toward behavior, (b) intention and perceived behavioral control, (c) intention and role identity, and (d) intention and attitude strength, all significant at the.001 level. Structural equation modeling analysis using LISREL 6 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1984) was employed in order to examine the network of relationships between the observed variables. In this type of analysis a model is proposed a priori, and the observed covariances between the variables are compared to the hypothesized covariances implied by the model. Indexes of fit indicate whether the observed covariances represent adequately the pattern of the hypothesized ones. This statistical approach has recently become popular (Bentler & Speckart, 1981; Godii et al., 1993; Vallerand et al., 1992).
156 Theodorakis, Bagiatis, and Goudas Table 1 Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Matrix for All the Variables Variables Mean SD Min Max 1 2 3 4 5 1. Intention 14.80 4.02 3 21 2. Attitudes toward behavior 22.48 6.62 6 35.35** 3. Subjective norms 27.76 20.36 2 98.17**.02 4. Perceived behavioral control 7.80 3.92 8 27.52**.20.13 5. Role identity 17.64 5.44 4 28.71**.39**.29*.58** 6. Attitude strength 27.73 7.10 8 38.70**.30*.22.69**.75** - Attitudes -18 Attitude toward strength behavior.36 Perceived behavioral.63 control ;I Intention Subjective norms identity Figure 2 -Path diagram of the revised structural model. Straight lines represent direct causal influence, while curved lines represent bidirectional relationship. Short lines represent the effects of variables not included in the model. All the coefficients are significant at p <.01. In the model (see Figure I), attitude strength was hypothesized to mediate the effect of attitudes toward behavior on intention, and self identity was hypothesized to mediate the effect of subjective norms on intention. Perceived behavioral control was hypothesized to influence intention: However, the indexes of fit provided by LISREL were not satisfactory for this model, suggesting that there was space for improvement (goodness of fit index was 0.872, adjusted goodness of fit was 0.462, and root means square residual was 0.123). Examination of the modification indexes provided by LISREL suggested that the model would be significantly improved by including paths from perceived behavioral control to attitude strength and from attitude strength to self identity. Also, the path of perceived behavioral control to intention was not significant and was eliminated. Figure 2 presents the structural coefficients for the revised
Planned Behavior Theory 1 57 model. The goodness of fit index and the adjusted goodness of fit index for this model, as provided by LISREL, were 0.955 and 0.762, respectively, which indicates an acceptable fit. Also, the mean square residual was 0.64, which is also considered satisfactory. The structural coefficients from attitude strength and role identity to intention were significant at the.o1 level, indicating that intentions could be predicted from these two variables. Discussion The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the proposed model would account for physical education students' intentions toward teaching disabled students. Attitude strength and role identity variables were included as mediator variables between attitudes and intentions. The results of structural equation modeling analysis showed that these two variables can be justifiably included in the planned behavior model as mediator variables. In considering the role identity variable, these results confirmed the Chamg et al. (1988) notion that once such a role identity becomes central to the self, the importance of attitudes and norms in determining behavioral intention diminishes. Charng et al. (1988) have suggested that identity theory conceives of behavior as a result of interaction between the self, others, and the social factor. Also, they stated that although the Ajzen model may be the most effective model for the prediction of many nomole behaviors, it should be augmented with identity theory variables. It seems that teaching individuals with disabilities is perceived by students as a role identity behavior. Overall, it appears that role identity is an important mediator factor between attitudes and behavioral intention. The importance of preservice teachers' role identity was highlighted in a study by Solmon, Worthy, Lee, and Carter (l990), who examined the teaching perspectives of student teachers and described the interplay between their role identities and teaching contexts. The subjects who had developed clear images of themselves in a teaching role were more successful in their student teaching expectancies than those who had not. Attitude strength was also a significant determinant of intention for teaching individuals with disabilities. Researchers such as Raden (1985) and Chaiken and Strangor (1987) have suggested that research directions should focus on the role of attitude strength. The six dimensions that were used for the operationalization of the attitude strength variable in the present study appeared to form a single latent construct. However, Krosnick, Boninger, Chuang, Berent, and Carnot (1993) noted that researchers disagree about the latent constructs reflected by the attitude strength dimensions. They examined the dimensionality of this concept using 10 dimensions and concluded that the dimensions they examined were all distinct but in most cases were related to one another. Contrary to our findings, the notion of a single attitude strength construct is not sustained by their evidence. Nevertheless, this difference could be caused by the different attitude objects that were examined in these studies. Clearly, further work is warranted on the dimensionality of the attitude strength construct. Krosnick et al. (1993) recommended the use of terminology and conceptual approaches that are closer to the operationalization used in a particular study. Results of the present study confirmed the expectation that attitude strength
158 Theodorakis, Bagiatis, and Goudas is an important mediator factor between attitude and intention for teaching individuals with disabilities. Subjects more confident in their attitudes for teaching individuals with disabilities in the future had stronger intentions to perform this behavior. The perceived behavioral control variable did not have a direct effect on students' intentions, showing that teaching individuals with disabilities was perceived as controllable behavior. However, perceived behavioral control was a significant determinant of attitude strength. This implies that when examining the effects of students' attitudes toward teaching individuals with disabilities in the future. researchers should consider the interaction of factors such as role identity, attitude strength, and perceived behavioral control. Rizzo and Vispoel(1991) stated that institutions responsible for the professional preparation of physical educators can play an important role in enhancing physical educators' positive attitudes toward teaching students with disabilities. These attitudes are influenced by academic preparation and teaching experience. The results imply that if someone who is working with preservice educational programs intends to change students' attitudes toward individuals with disabilities, he or she should try to change factors such as role identity and attitude strength. For example, practical experience in teaching students with disabilities would enhance role identity. Rizzo and Vispoel (1992) used four strategies to enhance students' confidence (information, contact, persuasion, and vicarious experience) and reported that attitudes toward teaching students with disabilities improved significantly as a function of an adapted physical education course. Further, an emphasis on the skills needed, and an educational experience that emphasizes the similarities of students with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders to nondisabled students, should strengthen positive attitudes. Several questions should be posed as a departure point for future research. For example, how are attitude strength and role identity influenced and modified through specific experience? Do attitude strength and role identity change as a result of specific courses of education programming of future professionals? Further insight into attitude-behavior relations would be of great importance in adapted physical education programming or in increasing students' intentions for teaching target populations. To further illuminate the roles of attitudes in education of students with disabilities and the preparation of future teachers in preservice education, research in this area must continue (Stewart, 1990). In conclusion, students' intentions for teaching individuals with disabilities in the future were successfully predicted by the planned behavior model variables and also by attitude strength and role identity. The role identity and attitude strength variables mediated the effects of subjective norms and attitudes toward behavior on intention. Perceived behavioral control affected the role identity and attitude strength variables. The proposed model appears to be appropriate for examining antecedents of intentions in physical education for special population settings. Individuals with positive attitudes, and who have stronger attitudes and intention for teaching, are more likely to work with individuals with disabilities. It seems that professionals' intentions to work with individuals with disabilities are affected by their role identity in the society and also by their attitude confidence toward teaching individuals with disabilities. The study of teachers' attitudes and how to modify these must be addressed at every step of the preparation process.
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