Peer relations of mainstreamed hearing-impaired students

This study compared the peer relations of hearing impaired and hearing adolescents, as well as examined the differences in the peer relations of the hearing impaired adolescents by level of hearing and educational placement. Spoken language of the hearing impaired adolescents was also considered. Forty-one grade 6 to grade 8 students with mild (n = 20) or moderate to profound hearing loss (n = 21), from fully integrated (n = 29) or partially integrated (n = 12) educational placements were recruited, as were 40 grade 6 to grade 8 hearing students. All participants were administered a friendship interview adapted from Berndt and Hawkins (1994), the Friendship Quality Questionnaire (Parker & Asher, 1993), and The Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire (Asher, Hymel & Renshaw, 1984). Friendship questionnaires were also given to all participants' teachers, parents and best school friend. The hearing impaired adolescents were also administered a measure of social interaction with hearing and hearing peers (Stinson, Chase, & Kluwin, 1991), as well as measures of English knowledge and functional spoken language.; Hearing adolescents reported higher friendship quality on the subscale Intimate Disclosure and lower levels of loneliness than hearing impaired adolescents. There were, however, no differences on the other friendship quality subscales, or the number of nominated and corroborated friendships. For the hearing impaired adolescents, there were some differences in their levels of interaction separately with hearing and hearing impaired peers by level of hearing and educational placement. English knowledge and/or functional spoken language correlated positively with friendship quality and functional spoken language correlated negatively with loneliness. The findings from this study are consistent with previous literature, and suggest that hearing impaired adolescents, regardless of level of hearing, are at risk in their peer relations. Implications for educational practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.