Pathways underlying somatic complaints in children and adolescents who are deaf or hard of hearing

The Association Between Deaf Identity and Emotional Distress Among Adolescents

The sociocultural approach regards being deaf as a cultural characteristic in the identity of a deaf/hard-of-hearing (D/HH) person. The degree to which one integrates the hearing and Deaf cultures ("acculturation") is an important factor for the well-being of deaf adolescents. We examined the relationship between acculturation patterns and emotional distress among D/HH (n = 69) compared to hearing (n = 60) adolescents in Israel. We used culturally and linguistically accessible measures. Our findings showed no significant differences in emotional distress between D/HH and their hearing counterparts. Acculturation played an important role predicting emotional distress. Identification with both the Deaf and hearing cultures was associated with reduced somatization. Exposure to discrimination and social support was also associated with emotional distress in predictable ways. Findings are interpreted within the specific context of Israeli society and highlight the importance of using adaptive linguistic and cultural assessment tools with D/HH populations.

Spontaneous helping behavior of autistic and non-autistic (Pre-)adolescents: A matter of motivation?

Young autistic people have a range of social difficulties, but it is not yet clear how these difficulties can be explained. In addition, emerging research is suggesting that autistic girls may differ from boys in terms of their social behaviors, but yet unknown is if they differ in terms of their pro-social behavior, such as helping. The present study investigated spontaneous helping behavior using an in vivo paradigm and related this to participants' levels of social motivation (based on parent reports). Participants were 233 autistic and non-autistic (pre-)adolescents (M = 12.46 years, SD = 15.54 months). Our results demonstrated that autistic girls and boys have lower levels of social motivation compared to their non-autistic peers, but social motivation was unrelated to helping behavior in both groups. Furthermore, when the experimenter needed help, the autistic boys and girls looked and smiled to the same extent as their peers of the same gender, but they actually helped significantly less than their non-autistic peers. However, most autistic youngsters did help, highlighting the great individual differences in autistic individuals. We discuss the possibility that lower levels of helping behavior are due to difficulty initiating action in a social context, rather than lower social motivation. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1796-1804. © 2019 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: This study examined the helping behavior of autistic boys and girls (aged 9-16). Many autistic young people did help, but compared to non-autistic individuals, autistic people did not help as much. This study also showed that when people did/did not help, it was not related to their interest in social relationships. It is important to teach young autistic people when and how to help others, to support them making friends.

Children's emotion understanding: A meta-analysis of training studies

BACKGROUND

In the course of development, children show increased insight and understanding of emotions-both of their own emotions and those of others. However, little is known about the efficacy of training programs aimed at improving children's understanding of emotion.

OBJECTIVES

To conduct an effect size analysis of trainings aimed at three aspects of emotion understanding: external aspects (i.e., the recognition of emotional expressions, understanding external causes of emotion, understanding the influence of reminders on present emotions); mental aspects (i.e., understanding desire-based emotions, understanding belief-based emotions, understanding hidden emotions); and reflective aspects (i.e., understanding the regulation of an emotion, understanding mixed emotions, understanding moral emotions).

DATA SOURCES

A literature search was conducted using PubMed, PsycInfo, the Cochrane Library, and manual searches.

REVIEW METHODS

The search identified 19 studies or experiments including a total of 749 children with an average age of 86 months (S.D.=30.71) from seven different countries.

RESULTS

Emotion understanding training procedures are effective for improving external (Hedge's g = 0.62), mental (Hedge's g = 0.31), and reflective (Hedge's g = 0.64) aspects of emotion understanding. These effect sizes were robust and generally unrelated to the number and lengths of training sessions, length of the training period, year of publication, and sample type. However, training setting and social setting moderated the effect of emotion understanding training on the understanding of external aspects of emotion. For the length of training session and social setting, we observed significant moderator effects of training on reflective aspects of emotion.

CONCLUSION

Emotion understanding training may be a promising tool for both preventive intervention and the psychotherapeutic process. However, more well-controlled studies are needed.

Symptoms of Psychopathology in Hearing-Impaired Children

OBJECTIVES

Children with hearing loss are at risk of developing psychopathology, which has detrimental consequences for academic and psychosocial functioning later in life. Yet, the causes of the extensive variability in outcomes are not fully understood. Therefore, the authors wanted to objectify symptoms of psychopathology in children with cochlear implants or hearing aids, and in normally hearing peers, and to identify various risk and protective factors.

DESIGN

The large sample (mean age = 11.8 years) included three subgroups with comparable age, gender, socioeconomic status, and nonverbal intelligence: 57 with cochlear implants, 75 with conventional hearing aids, and 129 children who were normally hearing. Psychopathology was assessed by means of self- and parent-report measures.

RESULTS

Children with cochlear implants showed similar levels of symptoms of psychopathology when compared with their normally hearing peers, but children with hearing aids had significantly higher levels of psychopathological symptoms, while their hearing losses were approximately 43 dB lower than those of children with implants. Type of device was related with internalizing symptoms but not with externalizing symptoms. Furthermore, lower age and sufficient language and communication skills predicted less psychopathological symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Children who are deaf or profoundly hearing impaired and have cochlear implants have lower levels of psychopathological symptoms than children with moderate or severe hearing loss who have hearing aids. Most likely, it is not the type of hearing device but rather the intensity of the rehabilitation program that can account for this difference. This outcome has major consequences for the next generation of children with hearing loss because children with profound hearing impairment still have the potential to have levels of psychopathology that are comparable to children who are normally hearing.

Emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and adolescents with hearing impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The aim of this study is to estimate the extent to which children and adolescents with hearing impairment (HI) show higher rates of emotional and behavioural difficulties compared to normally hearing children. Studies of emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and adolescents were traced from computerized systematic searches supplemented, where appropriate, by studies referenced in previous narrative reviews. Effect sizes (Hedges' g) were calculated for all studies. Meta-analyses were conducted on the weighted effect sizes obtained for studies adopting the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and on the unweighted effect sizes for non-SDQ studies. 33 non-SDQ studies were identified in which emotional and behavioural difficulties in children with HI could be compared to normally hearing children. The unweighted average g for these studies was 0.36. The meta-analysis of the 12 SDQ studies gave estimated effect sizes of 0.23 (95% CI 0.07, 0.40), 0.34 (95% CI 0.19, 0.49) and -0.01 (95% CI -0.32, 0.13) for Parent, Teacher and Self-ratings of Total Difficulties, respectively. The SDQ sub-scale showing consistent differences across raters between groups with HI and those with normal hearing was Peer Problems. Children and adolescents with HI have scores on emotional and behavioural difficulties measures about a quarter to a third of a standard deviation higher than hearing children. Children and adolescents with HI are in need of support to help their social relationships particularly with their peers.