Social Inclusion, Emotional Inclusion and Academic Self-concept of Slovenian Students with Learning Disabilities

Majda Schmidt, Susanne Schwab and Carmen L. A. Zurbriggen

Summary:  Students’ socio-emotional development (e.g. social inclusion, school well-being and academic self-concept) has gained increasing attention over the past decades. In line with this, the need for economical, reliable and valid instruments for assessing students’ perceived inclusion in school has emerged. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Perceptions of Inclusion Questionnaire (PIQ) using its Slovenian translation. A total of 214 students participated in the survey using the Slovenian PIQ. Of the students, 147 were officially diagnosed as having a learning disability (LD), while the remaining 67 had a LD but were not given an official status. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the three-dimensional factor structure of the version of the PIQ for Slovenian students. In addition, a strong measurement invariance was observed for the students with and those without an official diagnosis of LD and for sex. The internal consistencies were acceptable but slightly low for the academic self-concept subscale. No group differences in social inclusion, emotional inclusion and academic self-concept were observed between the students with and those without an official diagnosis of LD.