Youths with Hearing Loss More Likely to be Bullied

​Peer victimization occurs with significantly higher prevalence among adolescents with hearing loss compared with the general population, a new study found. (Exceptional Children 2018;84[3]:280.) Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas conducted an online survey of 87 children and adolescents ages 7 to 18 who wear cochlear implants or hearing aids for hearing loss. Approximately 50 percent of the participants said they were picked on in at least one way in the past year, compared with 28 percent of adolescents in the general population. Adolescents with hearing loss identified teasing, exclusion, having rumors spread about them, and coercion as ways they felt picked on, whereas their hearing counterparts report teasing, having rumors spread about them, and physical harm. As for the cause of bullying, about 45 percent of the survey respondents said they did not know why, 20 percent cited their hearing loss or cochlear implant as a reason, and 20 percent said it was because of the way they looked or acted.

One of the study authors, Andrea Warner-Czyz, PhD, an assistant professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and a researcher at the Callier Center for Communications Disorders at UT Dallas, said the problems with peers might reflect communication difficulties that youths with hearing loss experience related to auditory skills. "Sometimes they miss puns or a play on words, or other cues that have to do with humor. Or when something is said very quietly or in a noisy location, the student with hearing loss might miss it. And that can make them feel like an outcast, or it can make them look like an outcast," she said. Studies have shown that having at least one good friend is a protective factor against bullying. While most children in this study cited several or lots of friends, anecdotal reports from parents and clinicians made the researchers question the veracity of these friendships. "Friendships are important to most young people, but I believe they are especially important for children with hearing loss," said Warner-Czyz. "Anything parents can do to facilitate social interaction and friendship and letting them learn how to be a friend and who is a friend is critical." 

Published: 5/7/2018 9:11:00 AM

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