Understanding self-report Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward People with Disabilities: An exploratory analysis

This study aimed to explore the factor structure of the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward People With Disabilities (MAS) using participants from South Korea and assess the impact of participants' social desirability on this South Korean version of the MAS (MAS-K). Research Method/Design: One hundred eighty-nine college students without disabilities from 4 universities in South Korea completed an online survey. Among them, 75 were females. Participants completed the MAS-K and a social desirability scale. We used principal axis factoring with promax rotation to examine the factor structure of the MAS-K, and correlations between factors and social desirability measure.

We obtained a 27-item 4-factor MAS-K. Four factors were negative affect (α = .89), ease-unease (α = .75), positive cognition (α = .86), and avoidant behavior (α = .88). The interfactor correlations ranged from .18 to .61. The correlations between the social desirability measure and the 4 factors in the MAS-K ranged from -.23 to -.33.

The MAS-K retrieved from this study may help researchers identify unique attitudinal factors that need to be addressed to promote social inclusion of PWD in South Korea. Moreover, the emergence of the MAS-K highlights the necessity to develop culturally relevant versions of the MAS. This line of research will facilitate researchers' worldwide investigations regarding attitudes toward PWD and discussions about the rights of PWD. Finally, this study also pointed out the potential impact of social desirability on attitude measurement using the MAS. (PsycINFO Database Record