Ethics and Gender Effect on Intimacy Attitudes Toward Wheelchair Users

• Activity Number: 191
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, July 30, 2012 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Consulting
• Author(s): Xiaohui Wang*+ and Irmo Marini
• Companies: The University of Texas Pan American and The University of Texas Pan American
• Keywords: ordinal variables ; partial proportional odds model ; cumulative logit model ; logistic regression ; wheelchair user ; likert scale

Abstract

Attitudes toward intimacy and having a relationship regarding whether students would be attracted to a wheelchair user was explored. 810 primarily undergraduate Hispanic and Caucasian students were surveyed regarding their interest in potentially being friends, dating or marrying a wheelchair user. The survey collected participant's age, ethnic, sex, academic major, level of education, marital status, disability status, and close personal relationship with persons with disabilities. Dependent variables are willingness (measured by 6-point Likert scale) of participants to befriend, date, and/or marry the person they selected or hypothetically someone like the individual who uses a wheelchair. Chi-square test of pair wise association, logistical regression, partial proportional odds model and cumulative logit model revealed significant differences between type of relationship and ethnicity, gender, age and having had a prior disability relationship. Counselors can benefit from informing clients about misconceptions regarding sexuality, role play with clients regarding broaching sex and sexuality, and provide clients with insights regarding societal beliefs.