Longitudinal study on change in the well-being of young people with hearing loss

«p>How are young people with hearing loss doing today who were previously schooled in integrated (inclusion) classrooms? How have they developed in terms of their emotional well-being and susceptibility to stress?

Existing studies show that children and adolescents with hearing loss who had inclusion schooling have a 2.4 to 3.7 times higher risk of developing mental health problems than their hearing peers. The children and adolescents who had inclusion schooling show differences mainly regarding stress, fatigue, and depressive moods. The older the children are, the more that they have internalizing problems: »Internalizing problems such as being anxious and depressed were found more often in older than younger deaf children” (Knoors & Marschark, 2014, p. 148).

This research project addresses the question as to how young people with hearing loss and their hearing peers experience their everyday lives, how they feel, and to what extent negative emotions, for example, appear with increasing age. The project is a continuation of three previous projects at the University of Applied Sciences of Special Needs Education (HfH) on the well-being of children and adolescents with hearing loss who experienced inclusion schooling (Projects 4_4, 4_4.1, 4_4.2) and will result in the first longitudinal study worldwide of various aspects of the current and habitual mental health of people with hearing loss prior to adulthood.

The results of the previous part-studies show that children, adolescents, and adults with and without hearing loss do not differ in their average well-being; there are (as yet) no significant differences in their development of well-being—but there are indications in the last data collection that in their further development there could be higher negative activation (stress, etc.).