Stress, Social Support, and Life Experience

Adverse life experiences are connected to a number of negative health outcomes, including a higher likelihood of substance abuse and psychiatric disorders. Individuals who develop positive coping mechanisms, such as resilience skills, can mitigate the negative effects of stress and negative life experiences.

However, much is unknown about deaf individuals. Studies of negative life experiences, substance use, resilience, and well-being among deaf adults are few.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the following research questions:

• Is there a significant relationship between stress, psychosocial support, and life experiences among a sample of deaf and hard of hearing participants? and;
• How do the levels of stress, psychosocial, and life experiences of deaf and hard of hearing adults compare with findings of non-deaf samples?