Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Advance Access published online on April 16, 2007
The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, doi:10.1093/deafed/enm008
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Deaf College Students’ Perceptions of Their Social-Emotional Adjustment
School Psychology Department, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Abstract |
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This study examined differences between deaf and hearing students' perceptions of their social emotional adjustment as they transition to college. The 16PF-Adolescent Personality Questionnaire Life Difficulties Scale was completed by 205 deaf students and 185 hearing students. A multivariate analyses of variance and subsequent univariate tests found that deaf students rated themselves as experiencing significantly higher home life difficulties than hearing students, and deaf students rated themselves as having fewer coping difficulties than hearing students. Results also revealed a hearing status by gender interaction with deaf females rating themselves significantly higher on worry than deaf males, hearing females, and hearing males. An exploratory factor analysis of the Life Difficulties subscales yielded three factors of life difficulties for deaf college students but only two factors for hearing college students. These findings suggest that there are differences between deaf and hearing students who are transitioning to college with regards to their social-emotional adjustment.
Correspondence should be sent to Jennifer Lukomski, School Psychology Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, 14623 (e-mail: jalgsp{at}rit.edu).
Received September 29, 2006; revised February 28, 2007; accepted February 28, 2007