Applicability of the planned behavior theory to attitudes of students in early childhood education toward teaching culturally diverse classes: the role of self-identity.

The present study was designed to examine the predictive utility of planned behavior theory to the multicultural education domain. One hundred and forty-eight students in early childhood studies (146 women, 2 men; M age = 21.8 yr., SD = 2.6) were asked to complete a questionnaire based on planned behavior theory to measure attitudes toward teaching multicultural classes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and self-identity. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that the planned behavior model components explained 52.5% of the students' intentions. Addition of self-identity increased the amount of variance accounted for by the model 157.3%). It was concluded that researchers may have increased confidence when applying the planned behavior theoretical framework to study prospective educators' attitudes, and that self-identity seems to represent a useful explanatory variable.