High school students' attitudes and actions toward "slow learners"
Miller, C.T.; Gibbs, E.D.
American Journal of Mental Deficiency 89(2): 156-166
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9351 PMID: 6486179 Document Number: 231911
The relationship between high school students' attitudes and their involvement in their school's peer-tutoring program for "slow learners" was examined. Predictions about how attitudes would be related to behavior were derived from theories about attitude-behavior consistency. Results showed, as predicted, that students' attitudes toward people who receive tutoring were unrelated to their peer-tutoring behavior, whereas there was a trend for their attitudes toward their own tutees to predict whether they met with their tutees. Consistent with Ajzen and Fishbein's (1973) theory, however, the best predictor of peer-tutoring behavior was students' intentions to tutor. Moreover, both intentions and behavior were correlated with students' attitudes toward this behavior. These results were interpreted as demonstrating the value of using an empirical validated theoretical approach to predicting behavior toward slow learners.