A study of parental deafness as a factor in the development of self-concept in samples of deaf and hearing college students

Various studies have been implemented on the self-concepts of deaf children in comparison to other groups; however, no study has been found comparing self-concepts of deaf and hearing children who have deaf parents. This study compared a sample of hearing college students with a sample of deaf college students, all having deaf parents, on each of the nine dimensions of self-concept assessed through the revised form of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS). It addressed the question: Do the measured self-concepts of hearing children reared by deaf parents differ significantly from those of deaf children of deaf parents?; The study hypothesized that deaf subjects with deaf parents would score significantly higher on six dimensions of self-concept that their hearing counterparts as measured by the TSCS: Total Positive, Identity, Self-Satisfaction, Behavior, Personal Self, and Family Self. It was postulated that the Physical Self, Moral-Ethical Self, and Social Self scores for the hearing subjects with deaf parents would be significantly higher than those for the deaf subjects with deaf parents. The student sample of deaf persons was comprised of volunteers from Gallaudet University. The sample of hearing college students was drawn through an appeal for volunteers from various organizations of the deaf. The study subjects consisted of 51 deaf and 58 hearing college students. Study data were elicited through two self-report type instruments, the aforementioned Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and the Personal Data Profile. The similarity of the two samples' characteristics was tested using chi-square analysis. The TSCS means and standard deviations for deaf and hearing samples were obtained and compared using Students' t-test to determine if significant differences existed. The.05 level of significance served as a rejection level for hypotheses testing. Significant differences were found between TSCS mean scores for the deaf and hearing college students on the Behavior and Moral-Ethical Self scales. No differences resulted on the other six subscales or on the Total Score of the revised form of the TSCS. These findings support the conclusion that parental deafness, while an inconvenience to some, is not deterrent to their children's overall self-esteem.