Sociometric status and socio-behavioral characteristics of students with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

Although there is a great number of researches about socio-behavioral correlates of sociometric status of students of typical development, there are few researches where this correlation was studied in students with intellectual disability, and which could point to the level of expectancy for the children with intellectual disability when interacting with other children. The lack of these researches is particularly noticeable in students with mild intellectual disability who attend schools for students with disabilities. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the relation between sociometric status and the profile of socio-behavioral functioning of students with intellectual disabilities in secondary schools for students with disabilities, as well as the relationship between the self-perception of socio-behavioral characteristics of students with intellectual disabilities and the perception based on the estimation of their peers and teachers. The final sample of the research included totally 159 secondary school students (83 boys and 76 girls), aged between 15 years and 2 months and 20 years and 10 months. The students were divided into two subsamples – a group of students with mild intellectual disability who attend the school for students with disabilities (N = 67) and a control group of students of typical development (N = 92). For gathering data about sociometric status, the corresponding sociometric questionnaire was used, according to the estimation to the type HIFTO. The following two criteria of sociometric choice were used concerning this estimation – socializing during the school break and working together during lessons. The data on socio-behavioral characteristics were gathered by the implementation of several instruments of estimation. For self-estimation, peers' and teachers' estimation of socio-behavioral characteristics of students, the instrument created according to the estimation of “Guess Who” type was used. Total of 12 socio-behavioral features were covered by this instrument. The data about social skills of students, as well as the additional data about academic competence, were gathered by the implementation of teachers' version of the Social Skills Rating System, while the information about externalized and internalized problems were gathered according to the teachers' form of Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment...

Iako postoji veliki broj istraživanja o socio-bihevioralnim korelatima sociometrijskog statusa učenika tipičnog razvoja, malo je istraživanja u kojima je ispitivana ova veza kod učenika sa intelektualnom ometenošću, a koja bi mogla da ukažu na to koji nivo očekivanja imaju deca sa intelektualnom ometenošću kada stupaju u interakcije sa drugom decom, koja takođe imaju intelektualnu ometenost. Nedostatak ovih istraživanja posebno je primetan kada su pitanju učenici sa lakom intelektualnom ometenošću koji pohađaju škole za učenike sa smetnjama u razvoju. Stoga je cilj ovog rada bio da se utvrdi veza između sociometrijskog statusa i profila socio-bihevioralnog funkcionisanja učenika sa intelektualnom ometenošću u srednjim školama za učenike sa smetnjama u razvoju, kao i odnos između samopercepcije socio-bihevioralnih karakteristika učenika sa intelektualnom ometenošću i percepcije bazirane na proceni vršnjaka i nastavnika. Finalnim uzorkom istraživanja obuhvaćeno je ukupno 159 učenika srednjih škola (83 dečaka i 76 devojčica) uzrasta od 15 godina i dva meseca do 20 godina i 10 meseci. Ispitanici su podeljeni u dva poduzorka – grupu učenika sa lakom intelektualnom ometenošću koji pohađaju škole za učenike sa smetnjama u razvoju (N = 67) i kontrolnu grupu ispitanika tipičnog razvoja (N = 92). Poduzorci su bili ujednačeni prema polu, pri čemu je ujednačenost prema polu zabeležena i unutar poduzoraka. Podaci o polu, uzrastu, razredu, nivou intelektualnog funkcionisanja, školskom uspehu i broju izostanaka dobijeni su socio-demografskim upitnikom, posebno konstruisanim za potrebe ovog istraživanja. Za prikupljanje podataka o sociometrijskom statusu korišćen je odgovarajući sociometrijski upitnik konstruisan po uzoru na procenu tipa HIFTO (How I Feel Toward Others; Agard, Veldman, Kaufman, & Semmel, 1978, prema Morrison, 1981). U okviru ove procene upotrebljena su dva kriterijuma sociometrijskog izbora – druženje tokom odmora (,,Koliko bi voleo da se družiš tokom odmora u školi sa svakim od navedenih učenika?”) i zajednički rad tokom časa (,,Koliko bi voleo da radiš zajedno na času sa svakim od navedenih učenika?”). Na osnovu sociometrijskog ispitivanja učenici su razvrstani u nekoliko sociometrijskih grupa – popularne, odbačene, zanemarene, kontroverzne i prosečne...