Disability Labels Affect Physical Educators

Abstract

This study assessed the affect of the label (i.e., CP) attached to a description of a child’s motor ability and teacher attributes on the variables of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) on two groups of elementary teachers (label and no-label). Results from a Hotelling = s T2 MANOVA showed a labeling effect. Results from a simple linear regression procedure also showed that of the teacher attributes assessed, only perceived teaching competence ( p < .01) predicted favorable intentions. Support for the TpB was demonstrated for the group with the label for the social normative component ( p < .000). Further analyses showed that for the group that receive that label information, only the school principal ( p < .05) was associated with favorable intentions.