Abstract
Young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are attending university in increasing numbers. The importance of acceptance from peers and integration into the university have been recognized as key factors for success. We examined university students’ knowledge and attitudes towards students with ASD, underlying factors that contributed to such attitudes, and whether attitudes changed across two cohorts 5-years apart. The later cohort demonstrated greater knowledge and more positive attitudes toward students with ASD compared to students in the first cohort. However, knowledge was not found to be a significant predictor of attitudes and many students who were knowledgeable about ASD still reported negative attitudes toward participating in university and classroom based activities with students with ASD.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Urmi Dutta, Ph.D. for comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript, and to the reviewers for their helpful suggestions.
Author Contributions
DW participated in analyzing and interpreting the data and drafted the manuscript. AH conceived the study, designed the study, participated in collecting, interpreting and analyzing the data, and contributed to writing, reviewing and editing the manuscript. AF analyzed and interpreted the data and contributed to writing, reviewing and editing the manuscript. EM participated in designing the study and the acquisition of data.
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Devon White declares that she has no conflict of interest. Ashleigh Hillier declares that she has no conflict of interest. Alice Frye declares that she has no conflict of interest. Emily Makrez declares that she has no conflict of interest.
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White, D., Hillier, A., Frye, A. et al. College Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Students on the Autism Spectrum. J Autism Dev Disord 49, 2699–2705 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2818-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2818-1