Parental and spousal self-efficacy of young adults who are deaf or hard of hearing: Relationship to speech intelligibility

Abstract

This study examined the parental and spousal self-efficacy (SE) of adults who are deaf and who are hard of hearing (d/hh) in relation to their speech intelligibility. Forty individuals with hearing loss completed self-report measures: Spousal SE in a relationship with a spouse who was hearing/deaf parental SE to a child who was hearing/deaf, and assessment of speech intelligibility. In general, respondents evaluated their parental SE in relation to a child with hearing loss and their SE toward a spouse with hearing loss as higher than their parental SE toward a child with typical hearing and their spousal SE toward a spouse with typical hearing. Better SE toward a spouse with hearing loss was more prominent for the group that was deaf than for the group that was hard of hearing. In comparing spousal SE and parental SE toioard a spouse or child who lud typical hearing, all participants reported higher SE as a parent than as a spouse. However, the better parental SE was more prominent among the participants who were deaf. No significant differences emerged in the SE toivard a spouse or child with hearing loss among the whole sample or between the hoo groups (d/hh). Significant relations were found between speech intelligibility and spousal SE among the whole sample and between speech intelligibility and parental SE toward a child with typical hearing among the group that was hard of hearing.