Incidence of behavior disorders in hearing impaired children

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to examine the classification of behavior disorders in hearing impaired children and to determine the differences in the incidences of behavior disorders between hearing impaired children and hearing children. In addition, comparisons were made of three subgroups of hearing impaired children with regard to the incidence of behavior disorders. To accomplish these purposes, the Teacher Report Form of the Child Behavior Checklist was completed by teachers in 16 schools for the deaf across Texas. The sample consisted of 205 males and 179 females with age ranges of 6 years 0 months to 11 years 11 months. All of the children were enrolled in the school for the deaf on a full-time basis. Teachers were asked to describe the child's behavior as it was currently or had been in the past two months. In addition, teachers were asked to supply demographic data on each child. Analysis of the data was performed by using a principal component factor analysis. To determine the most robust factors, different numbers of factors were rotated to the orthogonal Varimax criterion. Factor structure of this analysis was compared with that developed for hearing children. Means and standard deviations were computed for each factor, and Chi-squares were computed to compare the factor structures developed for the subgroups of deaf children.Results indicated differences in the factors derived for the hearing impaired group as compared to those in the Edelbrock and Achenbach (1984) study. Differences in the frequency of observed behavior among the subgroups of deaf children were suggested. Boys deafened by causes other than a viral infection demonstrated a higher frequency of behavior disorders. Girls attending a day school program demonstrated a higher frequency of behavior disorders than girls attending residential school. Furthermore, children whose parents did not use sign language demonstrated a greater frequency of behavior disorders. Sex differences were also indicated in the frequency of observed behavior among deaf children.