Applicability of the Planned Behavior Theory to Attitudes of Students in Early Childhood Education toward Teaching Culturally Diverse Classes: The Role of Self-Identity

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the predictive utility of planned behavior theory to the multicultural education domain. One hundred and forty-eight students in early childhood studies (146 women, 2 men; M age = 21.8 yr., SD = 2.6) were asked to complete a questionnaire based on planned behavior theory to measure attitudes toward teaching multicultural classes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and self-identity. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that the planned behavior model components explained 52.5% of the students' intentions. Addition of self-identity increased the amount of variance accounted for by the model (57.3%). It was concluded that researchers may have increased confidence when applying the planned behavior theoretical framework to study prospective educators' attitudes, and that self-identity seems to represent a useful explanatory variable.

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