Abstract
The purposes of the present study were to examine conditions for optimal interactions between students from a standard school and students from a school for students with intellectual disabilities, and to discuss relationships between the quality of interactions and effects of the interactions on the attitudes of the students from the standard school toward the students from the school for students with intellectual disabilities. Videotape recordings were made of interactions between students from a school for students with intellectual disabilities and students from a standard high school. Students (N=10) from the standard high school were interviewed, using a stimulated recall procedure based on visual data created from interactions observed in the recordings. Qualitative analysis of the interview data produced 6 categories that comprise both conditions for determining the quality of an interaction and sub-structures of those conditions: (a) possibility of engagement, (b) closeness of distance, (c) equality of status, (d) extent of being interactive, (e) intensity of good feelings, and (f) potential for understanding others. The following conclusions were drawn: although personal factors may affect outcomes, that effect is mediated by individuals' evaluation of their experience of the interactions. Also, a sufficient quantity of interactions is necessary in order to ensure the quality of interactions.
