Adolescents with Hearing Impairment: Coping with Environmental Stressors
Main Article Content
Keywords
hearing impairment, coping strategies, environmental stressors
Abstract
Aims - To assess the effect of two different environmental stressors, impending tests and the threat of terror bombing attacks, on adolescents with and without hearing impairment and to compare coping strategies and psychological reactions to the stressors between the two groups. Method - Eleven adolescents with hearing impairment and 65 hearing adolescents, aged 13-15, learning at an inclusive school completed the demographic Coping Across Situation Questionnaire, the Test Anxiety Inventory, and a terror-bombing-related stress symptoms questionnaire.
Results - Higher levels of test stress and terror-related stress symptoms were found in the adolescents with hearing impairment. They used more avoidant coping and less active coping than the hearing adolescents. Higher use of avoidant coping was related to higher levels of test and terror-related symptoms, internal coping was related to higher test stress only, and active coping was related to lower terror-related symptoms.
Conclusions - Identifying and targeting the factors related to developing avoidant coping styles by adolescents with hearing impairment could help them to adopt more efficient coping strategies. Programs should be initiated to teach the adolescents coping strategies, such as problem solving and sharing concerns with significant others, as well as stress management skills.
References
Allen, J. (1998). Of resilience, vulnerability and a woman who never lived. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 7, 53-71.
Aysan, F., Thompson, D., & Hamarat, E. (2001). Test anxiety, coping strategies, and perceived health in a group of high school students: A Turkish sample. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 162, 402-411.
Barenbaum, J., Ruchkin, V., Schwab-Stone, M. (2004). The psychosocial aspects of children exposed to war: Practice and policy initiatives. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 41-62.
Baum, A., & Dougall A. L. (2002). Research on terrorism: What have we learned? Understanding and predicting effects of terrorism. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 15, 617-621.
Bryant, R. A., Harvey, A. G., Guthrie, R. M. & Moulds, M. L. (2000). A prospective study of psychophysiological arousal, acute stress disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 43, 341 344.
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F. (1994). Situational coping and coping dispositions in a stressful transaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 184-195.
Cassady, J. C., & Johnson, R. E. (2002). Cognitive test anxiety and academic performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27, 270-295.
Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J. K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A. H., Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 87-127.
De Jong, J. T. V. M. (2002). Public mental health, traumatic stress and human rights violations in low-income countries: A culturally appropriate model in times of conflict, disaster and peace. In: J. T. V. M. De Jong (Ed.), Trauma, war and violence: Public mental health in socio-cultural context (pp. 1-91). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
Desselle, D. D. (1994). Self-esteem, family climate, and communication patterns in relation to deafness. American Annals of the Deaf, 139, 322–328.
Desselle, D. D., & Pearlmutter, L. (1997). Navigating two cultures: Deaf children, self-esteem, and parents’ communication patterns. Social Work in Education, 19, 23–31.
Dutke, S., & Stober, J. (2001). Test anxiety, working memory, and cognitive performance: Supportive effects of sequential demands. Cognition and Emotion, 15, 381-389.
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: Study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 150-170.
Garbarino, J., & Abramowitz, R. H. (1992) The ecology of human development. In: J. Garbarino (Ed.), Children and families in the social environment (2nd ed., pp.11-33). New York, Aldine de Gruyer.
Georgy, S. (1998). Deaf young people: Aspects of family and social life. In: M. Marschark & M.D. Clark. Psychological perspectives on deafness (vol. 2, pp. 159-170). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gidron, Y., Kaplan, Y., Velt, A., & Shalem, R. (2004). Prevalence and moderators of terror-related post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in Israeli citizens. Israel Medical Association Journal, 6, 387-391.
Graham, P. (1998). Cognitive-behaviour therapy for children and families. New York: Cambridge University Press
Hillburn, S., Marini, I., & Slate, J. R. (1997). Self-esteem among deaf versus hearing children with deaf versus hearing parents. Journal of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, 30, 9-12.
Hindley, P. (1997). Psychiatric aspects of hearing impairments. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 101-17.
Jambor, E., & Elliott, M. (2005). Self-esteem and coping strategies among deaf students. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 10, 63-81.
Jenkins, E. J., & Bell, C. C. (1997). Exposure and response to community violence among children and adolescents. In J. Osofsky (Ed.), Children in a violent society (pp.9-31). New York: Guilford.
Kent, B. A. (2003). Identity issues for hard-of-hearing adolescents aged 11, 13, and 15 in mainstream settings. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8, 315-324.
Luckner, J.L. & Muir, S. (2001) Successful students who are deaf in general education settings. American Annals of the Deaf, 146, 450-461.
Martin, D., & Bat-Chava, Y. (2003). Negotiating deaf-hearing friendships: Coping strategies of deaf boys and girls in mainstream schools. Child: Care, Health and Development, 29, 511-521.
Masten, A. S., & Coatsworth, J. D. (1998). The development of competence in favorable and unfavorable environments. American Psychologist, 53, 205-220.
McIlroy, D., Bunting, B., & Adamson, G. (2000). An evaluation of the factor structure and predictive utility of a test anxiety scale with reference to students' past performance and personality indices. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 17-32.
Murdock, T. B., & Lybarger, R. L. (1997). An attributional analysis of aggression among children who are deaf. Journal of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, 31, 10–22.
Pfefferbaum, B., Nixon, S. J., Tivis, R. D., Doughty D. E., Pynoos R. S., Gurwitch R. H., & Foy D. W. (2001). Television exposure in children after a terrorist incident. Psychiatry, 64, 202-211.
Pincus D.B., & Friedman, A.G. (2004). Improving children's coping with everyday stress: Transporting treatment interventions to the school setting. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 7, 223-240.
Polat, F. (2003). Factors affecting psychosocial adjustment of deaf students. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8, 325-339.
Powers, S. (2003). Influences of student and family factors on academic outcomes of mainstream secondary school deaf students. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8, 57-78.
Pynoos, R., & Nader, K. (1990). Children's exposure to violence and traumatic death. Psychiatric Annals, 20, 334-344.
Pynoos, R. S., Frederick, C., Nader, K., Arroyo, W., Steinberg, A., Eth, S., Nunez, F., & Fairbanks, L. (1987). Life threat and posttraumatic stress in school-age children. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 1057-1063.
Rachford, D., & Furth, H. G. (1986). Understanding friendship and social rules in deaf and hearing adolescents. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 7, 391–402.
Sarason, I. G., & Sarason, B.R. (1990). Test anxiety. In: H. Leitenberg (Ed.), Handbook of social and evaluation anxiety (pp. 475-495). New York: Plenum Press.
Saylor, C. F., Cowart, B. K., Jackson, C., & Finch, A. J., Jr. (2003). Media exposure to September 11. American Behavioral Scientist, 46, 1622-1642.
Schuster, M., Stein, B. D., Jaycox, L. H., Collins, R. L., Marshal, G. N., Elliot, M. N., Zhou, A. J., Kanouse, D. E., Morrison, J.L., & Berry, S.H. (2001). A national survey of stress reactions after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. New England Journal of Medicine, 345, 1507-1512.
Seiffge-Krenke, I. (1993). Coping behavior in normal and clinical samples: More similarities than differences. Journal of Adolescence, 16, 285-303.
Seiffge-Krenke, I., & Stemmler, M. (2003). Coping with everyday stress and links to medical and psychosocial adaptation in diabetic adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 33, 180-188.
Shaffer, D., Fisher, P. L., Lucas, C. P., Duclan, M. K., & Schwab-Stone, M. E. ( 2000). NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, version IV (NIMH DISC-IV): Description, differences from previous versions, and reliability of some common diagnoses. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 28-38.
Shulman, S., & Seiffge-Krenke, I., & Samet, N. (1987). Adolescent coping style as a function pf perceived family climate. Journal of Adolescent Research, 2, 367-381.
Singer, M. I., Slovak, K., Frierson, T., & York, P. (1998). Viewing preferences, symptoms of psychological trauma, and violent behaviors among children who watch television. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 1041-1048.
Smith, M. S., & Womack, W. M. (1987). Stress management techniques in childhood and adolescence. Relaxation training, meditation, hypnosis, and biofeedback: appropriate clinical applications. Clinical Pediatrics, 26, 581-585.
Speilberger, C. D., Gonzales, H. P., Taylor, C, J., Anton, W. D., Algaze, B., & Ross, G. K. (1980). Test anxiety inventory. Palo alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Zeidner, M. (1994). Personal and contextual determinants of coping and anxiety in an evaluative situation: A prospective study. Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 899-918.
Zeidner, M. (1996). How do high school children and college students cope with test situations? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 66, 115-128
Aysan, F., Thompson, D., & Hamarat, E. (2001). Test anxiety, coping strategies, and perceived health in a group of high school students: A Turkish sample. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 162, 402-411.
Barenbaum, J., Ruchkin, V., Schwab-Stone, M. (2004). The psychosocial aspects of children exposed to war: Practice and policy initiatives. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 41-62.
Baum, A., & Dougall A. L. (2002). Research on terrorism: What have we learned? Understanding and predicting effects of terrorism. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 15, 617-621.
Bryant, R. A., Harvey, A. G., Guthrie, R. M. & Moulds, M. L. (2000). A prospective study of psychophysiological arousal, acute stress disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 43, 341 344.
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F. (1994). Situational coping and coping dispositions in a stressful transaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 184-195.
Cassady, J. C., & Johnson, R. E. (2002). Cognitive test anxiety and academic performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27, 270-295.
Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J. K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A. H., Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 87-127.
De Jong, J. T. V. M. (2002). Public mental health, traumatic stress and human rights violations in low-income countries: A culturally appropriate model in times of conflict, disaster and peace. In: J. T. V. M. De Jong (Ed.), Trauma, war and violence: Public mental health in socio-cultural context (pp. 1-91). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
Desselle, D. D. (1994). Self-esteem, family climate, and communication patterns in relation to deafness. American Annals of the Deaf, 139, 322–328.
Desselle, D. D., & Pearlmutter, L. (1997). Navigating two cultures: Deaf children, self-esteem, and parents’ communication patterns. Social Work in Education, 19, 23–31.
Dutke, S., & Stober, J. (2001). Test anxiety, working memory, and cognitive performance: Supportive effects of sequential demands. Cognition and Emotion, 15, 381-389.
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: Study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 150-170.
Garbarino, J., & Abramowitz, R. H. (1992) The ecology of human development. In: J. Garbarino (Ed.), Children and families in the social environment (2nd ed., pp.11-33). New York, Aldine de Gruyer.
Georgy, S. (1998). Deaf young people: Aspects of family and social life. In: M. Marschark & M.D. Clark. Psychological perspectives on deafness (vol. 2, pp. 159-170). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gidron, Y., Kaplan, Y., Velt, A., & Shalem, R. (2004). Prevalence and moderators of terror-related post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in Israeli citizens. Israel Medical Association Journal, 6, 387-391.
Graham, P. (1998). Cognitive-behaviour therapy for children and families. New York: Cambridge University Press
Hillburn, S., Marini, I., & Slate, J. R. (1997). Self-esteem among deaf versus hearing children with deaf versus hearing parents. Journal of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, 30, 9-12.
Hindley, P. (1997). Psychiatric aspects of hearing impairments. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 101-17.
Jambor, E., & Elliott, M. (2005). Self-esteem and coping strategies among deaf students. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 10, 63-81.
Jenkins, E. J., & Bell, C. C. (1997). Exposure and response to community violence among children and adolescents. In J. Osofsky (Ed.), Children in a violent society (pp.9-31). New York: Guilford.
Kent, B. A. (2003). Identity issues for hard-of-hearing adolescents aged 11, 13, and 15 in mainstream settings. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8, 315-324.
Luckner, J.L. & Muir, S. (2001) Successful students who are deaf in general education settings. American Annals of the Deaf, 146, 450-461.
Martin, D., & Bat-Chava, Y. (2003). Negotiating deaf-hearing friendships: Coping strategies of deaf boys and girls in mainstream schools. Child: Care, Health and Development, 29, 511-521.
Masten, A. S., & Coatsworth, J. D. (1998). The development of competence in favorable and unfavorable environments. American Psychologist, 53, 205-220.
McIlroy, D., Bunting, B., & Adamson, G. (2000). An evaluation of the factor structure and predictive utility of a test anxiety scale with reference to students' past performance and personality indices. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 17-32.
Murdock, T. B., & Lybarger, R. L. (1997). An attributional analysis of aggression among children who are deaf. Journal of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, 31, 10–22.
Pfefferbaum, B., Nixon, S. J., Tivis, R. D., Doughty D. E., Pynoos R. S., Gurwitch R. H., & Foy D. W. (2001). Television exposure in children after a terrorist incident. Psychiatry, 64, 202-211.
Pincus D.B., & Friedman, A.G. (2004). Improving children's coping with everyday stress: Transporting treatment interventions to the school setting. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 7, 223-240.
Polat, F. (2003). Factors affecting psychosocial adjustment of deaf students. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8, 325-339.
Powers, S. (2003). Influences of student and family factors on academic outcomes of mainstream secondary school deaf students. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8, 57-78.
Pynoos, R., & Nader, K. (1990). Children's exposure to violence and traumatic death. Psychiatric Annals, 20, 334-344.
Pynoos, R. S., Frederick, C., Nader, K., Arroyo, W., Steinberg, A., Eth, S., Nunez, F., & Fairbanks, L. (1987). Life threat and posttraumatic stress in school-age children. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 1057-1063.
Rachford, D., & Furth, H. G. (1986). Understanding friendship and social rules in deaf and hearing adolescents. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 7, 391–402.
Sarason, I. G., & Sarason, B.R. (1990). Test anxiety. In: H. Leitenberg (Ed.), Handbook of social and evaluation anxiety (pp. 475-495). New York: Plenum Press.
Saylor, C. F., Cowart, B. K., Jackson, C., & Finch, A. J., Jr. (2003). Media exposure to September 11. American Behavioral Scientist, 46, 1622-1642.
Schuster, M., Stein, B. D., Jaycox, L. H., Collins, R. L., Marshal, G. N., Elliot, M. N., Zhou, A. J., Kanouse, D. E., Morrison, J.L., & Berry, S.H. (2001). A national survey of stress reactions after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. New England Journal of Medicine, 345, 1507-1512.
Seiffge-Krenke, I. (1993). Coping behavior in normal and clinical samples: More similarities than differences. Journal of Adolescence, 16, 285-303.
Seiffge-Krenke, I., & Stemmler, M. (2003). Coping with everyday stress and links to medical and psychosocial adaptation in diabetic adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 33, 180-188.
Shaffer, D., Fisher, P. L., Lucas, C. P., Duclan, M. K., & Schwab-Stone, M. E. ( 2000). NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, version IV (NIMH DISC-IV): Description, differences from previous versions, and reliability of some common diagnoses. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 28-38.
Shulman, S., & Seiffge-Krenke, I., & Samet, N. (1987). Adolescent coping style as a function pf perceived family climate. Journal of Adolescent Research, 2, 367-381.
Singer, M. I., Slovak, K., Frierson, T., & York, P. (1998). Viewing preferences, symptoms of psychological trauma, and violent behaviors among children who watch television. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 1041-1048.
Smith, M. S., & Womack, W. M. (1987). Stress management techniques in childhood and adolescence. Relaxation training, meditation, hypnosis, and biofeedback: appropriate clinical applications. Clinical Pediatrics, 26, 581-585.
Speilberger, C. D., Gonzales, H. P., Taylor, C, J., Anton, W. D., Algaze, B., & Ross, G. K. (1980). Test anxiety inventory. Palo alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Zeidner, M. (1994). Personal and contextual determinants of coping and anxiety in an evaluative situation: A prospective study. Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 899-918.
Zeidner, M. (1996). How do high school children and college students cope with test situations? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 66, 115-128
Article Sidebar
Published
Dec 1, 2014
Article Details
Issue
Section
Research Articles and Essays
RDS Journal is an open-access journal, create a free account to read full articles and to submit a proposal. For visual arts and multimedia, submission will be considered evidence that you are offering RDS the right to display your work without penalty, compensation or royalties.
Author Biography
Miri Cohen, Senior Lecturer, Gerontology Department and School of Social Work; Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, Haifa University
Miri Cohen, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer at the Gerontology Department and school of Social Work, faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, Haifa University and is the head of the Gerontology Department. Her research is in the area of illness and disability and the relationships between stress, coping and health.