Emotional functioning plays a crucial role in the social development of children and adolescents. We examined the extent to which emotion control was related to the quality of friendships in pre-adolescents with and without hearing loss. We tested 350 pre-adolescents (75 deaf/hard of hearing in mainstream education (DHHm), 48 deaf/hard of hearing in special education (DHHs), and 227 hearing) through self-report. Outcomes confirmed a positive association between emotion control and positive friendships for all groups, with one notable exception: more approach strategies for emotion regulation were associated with more negative friendship features in the DHHs group. In addition, the DHHm group demonstrated high levels of emotion control, while their levels of positive friendship features were still lower compared to the hearing group.

While sibling relationships are known to be important for children’s social and emotional well-being, little is known about sibling relationships when both siblings are deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH). In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 young DHH adults (20–30 years old) who had studied in mainstream schools to explore their retrospective experiences of growing up with a DHH sibling. Interviews were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Findings revealed two superordinate themes: (1) sibling relationship and sense of self and (2) family coping and relationships, with each superordinate theme containing several subthemes. Findings highlighted the various ways sibling relationships contribute to siblings’ psychological development, identity formation, and coping with deafness. Potential challenges were identifed, as well as the role of parents’ attitudes and coping with hearing loss in promoting supportive sibling relationships. Parents and professionals should be aware of the valuable and unique aspects of DHH siblingship and attend to imporatnt relationship asepcts such as sibling communication, sibling comparisons, and parental differential treatment.

Objective: Most deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) youth grow up in hearing familial and educational environments, posing unique risks for their socio-emotional well-being. The study's objective was to explore protective processes contributing to resilience among DHH individuals in different life periods. Design: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 DHH young adults on their life-long coping with having a hearing loss (HL). Main outcome measures: Thematic analysis identified, according to participants' retrospective perceptions, processes that supported their positive adjustment from childhood up to early adulthood. Results: Themes were organised at three ecological levels: individual, including five subthemes (e.g. certain attitudes to HL); family, including various types of parental support; and community, including four subthemes (e.g. extra-curricular activities). Family and community level resources enabled and nurtured personal attitudes and coping abilities. The perceptions of which personal attitudes and contextual resources were helpful changed from childhood to young adulthood. Conclusions: Findings show how resilience is heterogeneously promoted in the unique context of DHH individuals living in hearing environments. They also show interactions between the individual, family and wider society and the dynamics of coping resources across time. Findings indicate the important of considering DHH individuals' coping choices in their specific life context.

Emotion awareness (EA) and regulation (ER) are each known to associate with mental health symptoms, yet there is a paucity of longitudinal studies examining them jointly during adolescence. Furthermore, little is known about these skills and their relations in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) adolescents, who are at risk for reduced emotion socialization and for more mental health symptoms. This longitudinal study examined the development and unique contributions of EA (emotion differentiation, emotion communication and bodily unawareness) and ER (approach, avoidance and worry/rumination) to internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescents with and without hearing loss. Using self- and parent's reports, we assessed 307 adolescents (age 9–15) three times over 18-month period. We found stability over time in development of EA and avoidance ER, increase in approach ER and decrease in worry/rumination. High levels and increases over time in two aspects of EA, emotion differentiation and communication, and in approach and avoidance ER were related to decreases in depressive symptoms. An increase in approach ER was also related to a decrease in anxiety symptoms. Yet, low levels or decreases in worry/rumination were related to decreased levels of depressive, anxiety and externalizing symptoms. Hearing loss did not moderate any of the variables or relations tested. Preliminary tests suggested heterogeneity within the DHH group according to educational placement, language abilities and parental education level. Overall, findings pointed at unique contributions of EA and ER to mental health development, suggesting that DHH adolescents, especially in mainstream schools, do not differ from their hearing peers in their emotion awareness and regulation.

For deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children living in an environment where their access to linguistic input and social interactions is compromised, learning emotions could be difficult, which may further affect social functioning. To understand the role of emotion in DHH children’s social life, this study investigated emotional functioning (i.e., emotion recognition, empathy, emotion expression), and its relation with social functioning (i.e., social competence and externalizing behaviors), in 55 DHH children and 74 children with typical hearing (aged 3–10 years; Mage = 6.04). Parental reports on children’s emotional and social functioning and factors related to DHH children’s hearing were collected. Results showed similar levels of emotional and social functioning in children with and without hearing loss. Use of auditory intervention and speech perception did not correlate with any measures in DHH children. In both groups, higher levels of empathy related to higher social competence and fewer externalizing behaviors; emotion recognition and positive emotion expression were unrelated to either aspect of social functioning. Higher levels of negative emotion expression related to lower social competence in both groups, but to more externalizing behaviors in DHH children only. DHH children in less linguistically accessible environments may not have adequate knowledge for appropriately expressing negative emotions socially.

Although having universal aspects, development of a sense of fairness, a milestone in children's social development, is influenced by social and cultural forces. Yet, it scarcely has been studied in children who are at risk for their social development, let alone in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children, who have limited access to linguistic and social input. This study examined for the first time equity preferences in DHH children compared with hearing counterparts. About 179 children (8-11 years) and early adolescents (12-14 years) played four economic allocation games where they distributed coins between themselves and another child. Participants with and without hearing loss were similar in conditions that entailed non-costly prosociality or selfmaximization. However, DHH participants showed weaker inequity aversion in more complex conditions: DHH children were more willing to allow other players to receive more coins than themselves, compared with hearing children and to DHH or hearing adolescents, and DHH adolescents were less willing to share resources when it was self-costly, compared with all other groups. Findings are discussed in light of the tension between norms of social comparison and norms of prosociality, and how they are reflected in developmental trajectories for inequity aversion when access to these norms is limited.

BackgroundOutdoor social participation in the school playground is crucial for children's socio‐emotional and cognitive development. Yet, many children with disabilities in mainstream educational settings are not socially included within their peer group. We examined whether loose‐parts‐play (LPP), a common and cost‐effective intervention that changes the playground play environment to enhance child‐led free play, can promote social participation for children with and without disabilities.MethodForty‐two primary school children, out of whom three had hearing loss or autism, were assessed for two baseline and four intervention sessions. We applied a mixed‐method design, combining advanced sensors methodology, observations, peer nominations, self‐reports, qualitative field notes and an interview with the playground teachers.ResultsFindings indicated for all children a decrease during the intervention in social interactions and social play and no change in network centrality. Children without disabilities displayed also an increase in solitude play and in the diversity of interacting partners. Enjoyment of LPP was high for all children, yet children with disabilities did not benefit socially from the intervention and became even more isolated compared with baseline level.ConclusionsSocial participation in the schoolyard of children with and without disabilities did not improve during LPP in a mainstream setting. Findings emphasize the need to consider the social needs of children with disabilities when designing playground interventions and to re‐think about LPP philosophy and practices to adapt them to inclusive settings and goals.

No abstract