A Comparison Of Mental Health And Related Factors Between Deaf Students And Normal Students

Objective: (1) To explore mental health status and related factors of deaf students. (2) To explore the differences in mental health status and related factors between deaf students and normal students, and to offer some scientific evidences for deaf student mental health education and administration.Methods: The sample consisted of 103 deaf students and 180 normal students who were from Vocational Technical College in Changsha, Hunan. Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), Adolescent Self-rating Life Events Check List(ASLEC), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) were used to date evaluation and data analysis. The data were obtained through group testing and analyzed with SPSS 12.0.Results: (1) The differences in mental health status and related factors between deaf students and normal students. Deaf students scored higher than normal students on SCL-90 sub-scales such as anxiety, somatization, depression, paranoid ideation, psychoticism.The differences were greater in scores on SCL-90. The scores in parts of SSRS items were greatly different between two groups. The differences in the scores on all items of EPQ and SCSQ and ASLEC were greatly significant between two groups. (2) The general factors which influenced the deaf students' mental health. The general status of deaf students' mental health is below the normal students. Mental health status of deaf students had moderate correlation with life events, personality factors, social support, coping style. Analysis of multiple stepwise regression showed that, the factors which influenced mental health status of deaf students were mainly life events scores, negative coping style, neuroticism, extraversion -introversion, social support and psychoticism.Conclusion: (1) Mental health status of deaf students is poorer than that of normal students. (2) Mental health status and related factors of deaf students are different from those of the normal students. (3) Mental health status of deaf students had moderate correlation with life events, personality factors, social support and coping style. The factors which influenced the deaf students' mental health were mainly life events scores, negative coping style, neuroticism, extraversion -introversion, social support and psychoticism. (4) The psychology test scale which the normal students often use may be not fit for the deaf students.