Self-esteem, emotional autonomy and loneliness in adolescents with cochlear implants.

Self-esteem, emotional autonomy &it loneliness in adolescents with cochlear implants During adolescence teenagers have to cope with many issues, including the construction of identity, emotional conflicts and physical, psychological and social changes.There are indications from a significant number of studies that adolescence can be particularly difficult for a deaf individual with regard to self-esteem and social-emotional adjustment, but little research has been done specifically on this subject, as there are still not many adolescent implant users who were implanted in the first years of life. Studies in this general area have shown the efficiency of cochlear implants (CIs), especially in early implanted children, in terms of oral language skills, self-esteem and self-perception, relationships with hearing peers, psychological well-being and a general improvement in their quality of life. Objects: The purpose of the present study was to compare the levels of self-esteem, emotional autonomy and peer-related and parent-related loneliness in adolescents with CIs with those of their hearing peers. Materials and Methods: The participants were in two groups: 1) 20 adolescents (8 male, 12 female, aged between 12 and 17) who have been using CIs - implanted unilaterally or bilaterally - for at least three years, and 2) 20 typically developing adolescents individually matched for age, gender and socio-economic status. The CI group includes 20 adolescents with bilateral not syndromic severe to profound hearing loss who received a diagnosis at mean age of 23,6 months (range: 9- 54). The mean age at cochlear implant activation was of 7,6 years (SD +/- 2.5). All the adolescents have hearing parents and communicate exclusively through oral language. The study used the Italian versions of the Emotional Autonomy Scale (EAS, Steinberg e Silverberg, 1986), the Louvain Loneliness Scale for Children and Adolescents (LLCA, Marcoen, Goossens, & Caes, 1987) and the Multidimensional self-esteem Test (TMA, Bracken, 1992). Results: Non parametric analyses for independent samples showed that adolescents with CIs display no significant differences from typically developing peers (p > .05) in self-esteem, emotional autonomy or parent-related and peer- related loneliness. Individuals who received the CI before school age displayed higher self-esteem in relation to body image than did adolescents who received CIs later (p = .03). The early use of CIs has an impact on the individual’s self-esteem and the adolescents with CIs show separation-individuation patterns related to family and peer relationships similar to those of their typically developing peers.