Sticks, stones, and stigma: a study of students' use of the derogatory term "retard".
Almost every middle- and high-school student hears the r-word weekly, so check your class climate and act.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Dolezal et al. (2010) asked 8- to 18-year-old students to fill out a survey. The survey asked if they had heard the r-word used as slang and who said it.
What they found
Nine out of ten kids said they had heard the word. Who used it and who heard it changed how often it happened.
How this fits with other research
Hampton et al. (2008) also used a survey, but with Chinese college students. They looked at attitudes, not daily slang.
Wright (2019) shows we rarely report race or language in our studies. Dolezal et al. (2010) did not report these either, so we can’t see if slang use differs across groups.
Hersh (1990) watched teacher talk in classrooms. Together these papers show both student and adult words shape school culture.
Why it matters
If 92% of kids hear the r-word, it is part of the school verbal climate. You can run a quick 5-question survey in your class to see if the trend still holds. Then pick a respectful-language lesson or peer-modeling plan to lower the slur rate before it blocks learning.
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Join Free →Start class with an anonymous 5-question poll: “Have you heard the r-word here this week?” Tally and post results, then launch a 3-minute respectful-language booster.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present study explored the prevalence of the derogatory invective "retard" (i.e., "r-word") in everyday speech among American youth. A total of 1,169 youth between the ages of 8 and 18 years old participated in the present study. Results showed high prevalence of the r-word, as 92% of youth had heard someone use the word as a slang invective. Results also indicated that youth responded differently depending on who the word was directed toward (i.e., person with or without an intellectual disability), who said the word (i.e., friend vs. nonfriend), and who heard the word (i.e., females vs. males; younger vs. older youth). Implications for eliminating the r-word from everyday use are discussed.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-48.2.126