A comparative study of the attitudes toward international students as a function of selected characteristics of deaf college preparatory students

The purpose of this study was to determine differences, if any, in attitudes toward international students, as assessed through the Social Distance Scale (SDS), between samples of male and female deaf college preparatory students, who have deaf or hearing parents, and a mainstream versus residential or day-school-for-the-deaf precollege educational experience. Three hypotheses guided the study: (1) The mean SDS score for deaf preparatory college students who attended mainstreamed schools prior to attending Gallaudet University will be significantly lower than that for deaf preparatory students who attended residential or day schools for the deaf prior to attending Gallaudet University. (2) The mean SDS score for deaf preparatory college students with hearing parents will be significantly lower than that for deaf preparatory college students with deaf parents. (3) The mean SDS score for female deaf preparatory college students will be significantly lower than that for male deaf preparatory college students. The population of this study consisted of 163 volunteer deaf college preparatory students at the School of Preparatory Studies, Gallaudet University, in the fall semester of the 1992 academic year. These students were recruited during their group meetings at New Student Orientation. Of the 163 students, 110 attended residential or day schools for the deaf and 53 attended mainstreamed programs prior to coming to Gallaudet. Eighteen students had deaf parents and 145 had hearing parents. Eighty-four were females and 79 were males. The three hypotheses were not confirmed. Gender was the only variable that came very close to the.05 level of significance ($p = .059$), and on this variable, females showed lower social distance scores than males. In general, it is concluded that the effects of same minority group membership (as defined by deafness), regardless of school background, parental hearing status, or gender, leads to similar experiences and perceptions of other cultural out-groups.