NCJ Number
141819
Journal
Adolescence Volume: 27 Issue: 108 Dated: (Winter 1992) Pages: 977-988
Date Published
1992
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Thirty students each from public junior and senior high schools and a community college, all located in rural Virginia, participated in a study to investigate social sensitivity and self-concept in students with and without learning disabilities. At each grade level, half the subjects were learning disabled and half were non-learning disabled.
Abstract
The students answered questions concerning the thoughts and feelings portrayed by actors in tape-recorded stories depicting two adults in happy, angry, anxious, and sad interactions. The students also completed a questionnaire assessing four dimensions of self-concept in learning situations, namely, motivation, task orientation, problem- solving ability, and class membership. The results showed that, at each grade level, the LD students scored significantly lower than their non-LD peers in social sensitivity, although both groups of students showed developmental increases with age. In addition, the LD group scored significantly lower on the self-concept components compared to the control group. These findings support the need for remediation efforts specifically aimed at improving social skills in order to overcome social deficits that apparently carry over into adulthood. 2 tables and 16 references