Social participation of deaf youth in school. Predictors and consequences of acceptance and popularity of deaf early adolescents before and after a major school transition
Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Going through adolescence means facing cognitive, psychological, biological, and social changes (Blakemore, 2008;Steinberg, 2008).Biologically, there are hormonal and physical changes, even on the neurobiological level (Blakemore, 2008), reflecting the difference between a young adolescent and an adult (van Lijenhorst & Crone, 2009).For example, brain regions involved in social cognition, particularly in understanding other people, undergo structural development during adolescence (Blakemore, 2008).Another well-known example is the increase in risky behavior by adolescents, which is related to slow development of the brain region responsible for cognitive control and understanding long term consequences, combined with a peak in sensitivity for rewards (van Lijenhorst & Crone, 2009).Regarding social changes, there is a shift with increased contact with peers and decreased contact with adults.This is signified by an intensification of peer interest and interaction with peer relations becoming more important and dyadic in nature.Today's teenagers spent twice as much time in company with peers than with adults, even if we exclude time in the classroom, with about half of an adolescent's waking hours being spend with peers as opposed to 15 percent with adults.Additionally, there is a decrease in adult supervision and becoming less emotionally dependent on parents (Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1993;Steinberg, 2008).In early adolescence, the school classroom is a very important context in which they spend a vast amount of time with peers.Relationships with these peers are a person's first true experience with dyadic relationships and acceptance and closeness (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006).Building up a network of peer relations is even a greater challenge after school transition.Thus, in early adolescence (ages 10-14), while dealing with inevitable mental and physical changes, social life considerably changes as well, especially in the area of peer relationships.Facing adolescence is therefore a challenge for all children, but what is it like for someone who can not hear well?In the current thesis, this question is addressed in the context of deaf early adolescent peer relations in the school class before and after school transition. Hearing Loss and Social RelationshipsInteraction is a prerequisite for healthy relationships to emerge, but deaf Vermeer, 1992).Pragmatic skills have been found to promote peer status in children (Nærland, 2011), although strategic communicative skills have been studied rarely in relation to peer status.Studies into social behavior, personality, and communicative skills related to social relations in early adolescents are scarce, despite the increased importance of peer relations at this age.Neither have the three domains been studied together, and regarding communicative skills, the vast amount of studies focuses on young children.Known studies are unifactorial or bifactorial in nature, and moreover, many do not acknowledge the distinction between acceptance and popularity.To increase our understanding of peer status in early adolescence, given the relevance of peer relations for well-being and overall development, it is necessary to integrate multiple predictive factors of peer status in one integral design. Deaf Early Adolescents' Acceptance and PopularityConsidering peer status of deaf early adolescents, far less studies have been conducted compared to hearing peers.Summing up earlier findings, mainstreamed deaf children have been found to be accepted in some, but not in all studies (e.g., Antia, Kreimeyer, & Reed, 2010;Cambra, 2002;Kluwin, Stinson, & Colarossi, 2002;Stinson & Antia, 1999;Stinson & Kluwin, 2011).In the latter case, they are neglected (i.e., not nominated as either "liked" nor as "disliked") or rejected (often nominated as "disliked", but not as "liked"), and report feelings of loneliness.In studies where deaf peers are accepted, one study pointed toward the role of gender, with deaf girls being accepted but not boys (Coyner, 1994), and another found that accepted was mainly by younger female hearing peers in an adolescent sample (Cambra, 2002).Extent of contact between deaf and hearing peers might play a role, since deaf peers might judge their relationship with hearing peers as less satisfying, questioning the quality of the relationships (Kluwin et al., 2002).The role of educational setting seems important, though conclusive findings do not appear here as well.Deaf children in segregated classrooms seem to have more positive social experiences, with fewer reports of loneliness and more friends than mainstreamed deaf peers (Brands, Elsendoorn, & Coninx, 2000;Stinson & Kluwin, 2011).In co-enrollment settings, in which deaf and hearing children are cotaught by a general and special education teacher, they have been found to be Mainstream Versus Special EducationDeaf mainstream children more often possess better developed spoken language skills compared to deaf peers in special education (Antia et al., 2010). 2 The exact number of deaf and hard-of-hearing children and early adolescents in the Netherlands is unknown.The prevalence of a hearing loss of 60-70 dB or more in 0-19 year olds is .07-.10 percent (De Graaf, Knippers, & Bijl, 1998; LUMC, 2012).On January 1, 2013, the CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics) estimated there were 3,877,669 children and youngsters aged 0-20 years.This results in about 2700-3900 severe to profoundly deaf children and adolescents in the Netherlands.This number does not include mild and moderate hearing losses though.Hearing losses of 30 dB and more are said to be found in on average 3% of school aged children, resulting in up to 12.000 mild to profoundly deaf children and adolescents in the Netherlands (LUMC, 2012). The Present ThesisEarly adolescence is a challenging phase for all children, during which peer relations increase in importance.School transition constitutes a major change in social context during early adolescence.Because of potential communication problems, this may lead to extra challenges for deaf children.Studies about deaf early adolescents' peer status and its predictors (social behavior, communicative skills, and personality) are scarce though, especially in the developmental area.Longitudinal studies are almost entirely lacking. Outline of the Present ThesisThe current thesis contains four different but related empirical papers, followed by a chapter containing general conclusions and discussion.The four studies were written as independent articles and have either been accepted or resubmitted earlier for publication in peer reviewed journals.Chapter 2 (Behavioral, personality, and communicative predictors of acceptance and popularity in early adolescence) reports an exploratory study in which predictors of acceptance and popularity were studied in a (normative) sample of 608 hearing Grade 6 children from 30 mainstream classrooms.The chapter introduces behavioral (prosocial, antisocial, withdrawn), personality (agreeableness, extraversion) and communicative (pragmatics) predictors of acceptance and popularity in a classroom setting.Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to investigate predictor differences between the two types of peer status.Chapter 3 (Predicting acceptance and popularity in early adolescence as a function of hearing status, gender, and educational setting) extends the preceding chapter to deaf children.Participants were 87 deaf and 672 hearing early adolescents of 52 6 th -grade classrooms in mainstream and special education.The first research question focused on differences in acceptance, popularity, communicative skills (pragmatic, strategic), social behaviors (prosocial, antisocial, withdrawn), and personality (extraversion, agreeableness) as a function of hearing status (hearing vs. deaf), gender, and educational setting (mainstream and special 2 Behavioral, Personality, and Communicative Predictors of Acceptance and Popularity in Early Adolescence
Author: Nina Wolters-Leermakers
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W171644871