Social Comparison Choices of Mainstreamed Academically Handicapped Children

Abstract

Eleven academically handicapped and 18 nonhandicapped members of a fourth-grade class participated in a six-week study designed to investigate the social comparison behavior of mainstreamed students. An auditing procedure was used that allowed students to audit their own performance and that of all classmates on daily arithmetic assignments. Auditing was done on a computer terminal which was installed in the classroom; the computer kept a daily record of auditing choices.

Under the assumption that classmate auditing was an act of social comparison, computer records were analyzed to determine whether handicapped children made comparisons as often as nonhandicapped peers and whether or not they chose to compare with classmates similar to themselves. Results indicated that the handicapped students on the average audited classmates more often than nonhandicapped peers; however, this difference was not statistically significant. Close examination of auditing choices indicated that handicapped students did not prefer to compare with other handicapped classmates nor with classmates who performed similarly. Handicapped students who ranked lowest on the comparison measure clearly preferred to compare with high-ranked classmates. The results are compared with results of a previous investigation, and their implications for mainstreaming and the study of social comparison among children are discussed. Major assumptions and limitations of the study methods are also critically examined.