European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity 1, 51-61 (2008) | DOI: 10.5507/euj.2008.004

PERCEIVED COMPETENCE AND SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE ASSESSMENT IN PORTUGUESE YOUNG STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT DOWN SYNDROME: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

Maria João Campos1, José Pedro Ferreira1, Pedro Miguel Gaspar1, José Irineu Gorla2
1 Centro de Estudos Biocinéticos, Laboratório de Psicologia do Desporto e do Exercício, Faculdade de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
2 Departamento de Estudos da Atividade Física Adaptada, Faculdade de Educação Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, São Paulo, Brasil

The study of self-perceptions in groups with disability is an emergent area of research in Portugal and additional evidence is needed concerning Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance of young students with Down Syndrome (DS). The main purpose of this research was to examine the reliability of a Portuguese version of the Dutch Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance (Vermeer & Veenhof, 1997) to be used in children with and without DS. A second purpose was to assess hypothetical differences in Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance among young male and female students with and without DS. Two groups were analysed including 30 participants without DS aged 4 and 5 years old, 15 females (M = 4.40, sd = .51 yr.) and 15 males (M = 4.40, sd = .51 yr.) attending the kindergarten and 47 participants with DS aged 8 to 20 years old, 21 females (M = 14.95, sd = 2.50 yr.) and 26 males (M = 14.50, sd = 3.29 yr.) attending special schools for children with intellectual disabilities. A Portuguese version of the PSPCSA was used to assess Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance in both groups with and without disability. Results from internal consistency and test/retest reliability measures revealed that this version was appropriate to be used with children with DS from both genders. Gender differences in this study revealed that female students with DS perceived higher levels of Physical Competence but lower levels of Acceptance by their peers when compared with female students without DS. On the other hand, male students with DS felt less accepted by their peers but perceived higher levels of Parental Acceptance when compared with their male colleges without DS.

Keywords: Self-perceptions, Perceived Competence, Social Acceptance, Down Syndrome, Children

Published: March 31, 2008  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Campos, M.J., Ferreira, J.P., Gaspar, P.M., & Irineu Gorla, J. (2008). PERCEIVED COMPETENCE AND SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE ASSESSMENT IN PORTUGUESE YOUNG STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT DOWN SYNDROME: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS. European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity, 1(1), 51-61. doi: 10.5507/euj.2008.004
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Begley, A. (1999). The self-perceptions of pupils with Down Syndrome in relation to their academic competence, physical competence and social acceptance. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 46(4), 515-529. Go to original source...
    2. Begley, A., & Lewis, A. (1998). Methodological issues in the assessment of the self-concept of children with Down Syndrome. Child Psychology and Psychiatry Review, 3(1), 33-40. Go to original source...
    3. Burns, R. B. (1986). The self-concept: Theory, measurement, development and behavior. Essex: Longman.
    4. Chapman, J. (1988). Learning disabled children's self-concepts. Review of Educational Research, 58(3), 347-371. Go to original source...
    5. Corredeira, R. (2001). Competência Percebida e Aceitação Social em Crianças com Paralisia Cerebral: Tradução e adaptação da Pictorial Sclae ans Social Acceptance in Chlidren with Cerebral Palsy para a realidade portuguesa. Tese de dissertação de mestrado, Faculdade de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física, Universidade do Porto.
    6. Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psycho-metrika, 16, 297-334. Go to original source...
    7. Cuskelly, M., & de Jong, I. (1996). Selfconcept in children with Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome: Research and Practice, 4(2), 59-64. Go to original source...
    8. Cuskelly, M. (2004). The Evolving Construct of Intellectual Disability: is everything old new again? International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 51(1), 117-123. Go to original source...
    9. Ferreira, J. P. (2006). Physical Self and Global Self-esteem in Wheelchair Sport Participants: A mixed method approach. Coimbra: FCDEF-UC, Centro de Estudos Biocinéticos.
    10. Ferreira, J. P, & Fox, K. R. (2007). An investigation into the structure, reliability, and validity of the Physical Self-Perception Profile in non-English spoken settings. International Journal of Applied Sport Sciences, 19(1), 25-46.
    11. Ferreira, J. P., Gaspar, P. M., Fox, K. R., Campos, M. J., & Senra, C. M. (in press) Autoeficácia, Competência Física e Autoestima em praticantes de basquetebol com e sem deficiência. Submitted to Revista Brasileira de Educação Física e Esporte, Universidade de São Paulo.
    12. Glenn, S., & Cunningham, C. (2001). Evaluation of Self by Young People with
    13. Down Syndrome. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 48(2), 163-177.
    14. Harter, S. (1982). The Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Child Development, 53, 87-97. Go to original source...
    15. Harter, S. (1999). The Construction of the Self. A Developmental Perspective. New York. The Guilford Press.
    16. Harter, S., & Pike, R. (1984). The Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children. Child Development, 55, 1969-1982. Go to original source...
    17. Scholtes, V., Vermeer, A., & Meek, G. (2002). Measuring perceived competence and social acceptance in children with cerebral palsy. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 17(1), 77-87. Go to original source...
    18. Schwartz, D., Dzakula, A., Vermeer, A., & Klughist, I. (1999). Die Messung der Selbstwahrgenomenen Kompetenz von Kindern und Jugendlichen mit CerebralParese. Motorik, 22, 64-72.
    19. Shavelson, R. J., Hubner, J. J., & Stanton, G. C. (1976). Validation of construct interpretations. Review of Educational Research, 46, 407-441. Go to original source...
    20. Tinsley, H., & Tinsley, D. (1987). Uses of factor analysis in counselling psychology research. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 4(34), 414-424. Go to original source...
    21. Vermeer, A., Lanen, W., Hendriksen, J., Speth, L., & Mulderij, K. (1994). Measuring perceived competence in children with cerebral palsy. In J. H. A. van Rossum & J. I. Laszlo (Eds.), Motor development: Aspects of normal and delayed development (pp. 133-144). Amsterdam: VU University Press.
    22. Vermeer, A., & Veenhof, C. (1997). The Dutch Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Children with Cerebral Palsy: A reliability and validation study. European Master Degree in Adapted Physical Activity, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content