An investigation of social adjustment in hearing impaired children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the social adjustment of hearing impaired students educated in a residential school, with hearing Impaired students educated in their home communities, attending partially segregated classes. The Bristol Social Adjustment Guides were administered to test for social adjustment, and a rating scale, adopted from one used by Meadow and Schleslinger (1972), was administered to test psychosocial adjustment. The Bristol Guides were analysed by comparing the two groups in three categories of adjustment: normal unsettled and maladjusted. Also, the results were investigated with respect to the possibility of a relationship between sex and social adjustment. Data in this section was analysed by means of the chi-square (with Yates correction) and the t-test. In addition, four types of maladjusted behaviour were investigated. These included: hostility, inconsequence, depression, and K syndrome. The results were investigated in terms of the two groups and in terms of sex. Data in this section was analysed by means of the t-test. The results of the rating scale were analysed by comparing the mean rating scores of the two groups in each of the three categories under investigation: social relationships, communication and adjustment to deafness, and intelligence and performance. The results were investigated in terms of the two groups and in terms of sex. Data in this section was analysed by means of the t-test. The main findings of these analyses are summerized and discussed under the following headings: (1) results of the social adjustment on the Bristol Guides; (2) results of patterns of maladjusted behavior; (3) results of the rating scale.