INDEPENDENT BEHAVIOR, PEER RELATIONSHIPS, AND INTEREST IN OPPOSITE-SEX PEERS IN DEAF ADOLESCENTS REPORTED BY PARENTS AND TEACHERS
Abstract
Parent and teacher interviews of behavioral patterns in 75 youths deafened by congenital rubella and 34 comparison hearing youths, 13 to 15 years old, were used to investigate five adolescent issues: (a) independent behavior at home, (b) peer interactions outside of school, (c) interest in opposite-sex peers, (d) independent behavior in school, and (e) peer interactions in school. Multivariate analyses were utilized in order to compare deaf adolescents and hearing adolescents on the above-mentioned developmental issues, and to compare completely integrated, partially integrated, and nonintegrated deaf adolescents on the above-mentioned developmental issues. The relationship between parents' reports and teachers' reports of independent behavior, and between parents' reports and teachers' reports of peer interactions were examined for deaf and hearing adolescents. Five 3-point scales measuring each of the dependent variables were developed from the semi-structured parent and teacher interviews, and pretested for the study. Two independent raters read and scored parent and teacher responses in a blind, counterbalanced design. Results indicated a significant difference between deaf and hearing adolescents in independent behavior and peer interactions as judged by parents. There were no other significant findings. It was concluded that deaf adolescents do manifest inadequate levels of independent behavior and peer interactions at home. This in part may be fostered by dependency relationships induced by parents. Functioning is more comparable to hearing adolescents in interest in opposite-sex peers at this age, where behaviors may be less controlled by parents and less dependent upon others' responses than behaviors indicative of independence and peer interactions. Assimilation of typical adolescent opposite-sex social behavior may also depend on time spent in the hearing community. As in hearing adolescents, deaf adolescents can behave differently in varying situations. In the school setting, deaf adolescents appear to demonstrate a "catching up" effect, and functioning is more like hearing adolescents in independent behavior and peer interactions. Although the lack of a school program effect on the deaf adolescents has been supported by others' findings, mean scores indicated some differences which may not have reached statistical significance because of small group size.
Subject Area
Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
KASEN, STEPHANIE POLLISH, "INDEPENDENT BEHAVIOR, PEER RELATIONSHIPS, AND INTEREST IN OPPOSITE-SEX PEERS IN DEAF ADOLESCENTS REPORTED BY PARENTS AND TEACHERS" (1987). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8715805.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8715805
