Emotional distress and its relationship with mindfulness in a sample of deaf adolescents

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the nature of the relationship between emotional distress and mindfulness in a sample of deaf adolescents. Additionally, it sought to compare mindfulness between male and female deaf adolescents. The study sample consisted of 90 deaf adolescents (45 males, 45 females) aged between (16-18) years, with an average age of 16.900 and a standard deviation of 0.807. The sample was selected from Al- Amal School for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired in El Marg Preparatory Secondary School under the El Marg Educational Administration, and the School for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired in Abbassiya Preparatory Secondary School under the Waili Educational Administration, both affiliated with the Cairo Directorate of Education. The study adopted a descriptive correlational comparative approach to reveal the relationship between emotional distress and mindfulness in the study sample of deaf adolescents, and to explore gender differences in emotional distress and mindfulness among deaf adolescents. The study employed the following tools: Primary Data Sheet (Prepared by the researcher), Emotional Distress Scale for Adolescents (Prepared by the researcher), Mindfulness Scale for Adolescents (Prepared by the researcher), Raven's Progressive Matrices Intelligence Test (Prepared by Emad Hassan, 2016), and the Socio-Cultural Economic Level Scale (Prepared by Mohamed Saafan and Duaa Khattab, 2016). The results indicated a statistically significant negative correlation between the scores of the study sample of deaf adolescents on the Emotional Distress and Mindfulness scales. Moreover, statistically significant differences were found between the mean scores of male and female deaf adolescents on the Emotional Distress scale in favor of females. Also, there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of male and female deaf adolescents on the Mindfulness scale in favor of males. These findings emphasize the importance of addressing emotional distress in deaf adolescents, given its negative impact on their psychological well-being. Furthermore, the results suggest the need for intervention programs tailored to reduce emotional distress in female deaf adolescents and enhance mindfulness in male deaf adolescents.