Bullying in adolescents
with hearing loss
Andrea Warner-Czyz, Ph.D., CCC-A
Betty Loy, AuD
Acknowledgments
• E. Rhodes and Leona B.
Carpenter Foundation Grant
• Dallas Cochlear Implant
Program
• Colorado Neurological
Institute Cochlear Kids Camp
• Rocky Mountain Ear Center
• David Kelsall, Alison Biever
• Data collection
• Trissan Jones, Hannah
Pourchot, Elika Cokely,
Kathryn Wiseman, Roshini
Kumar
• Consulting
• Emily Tobey, Nadine Connell
• Professionals who recruited
• Adolescent participants
Reactions to hearing aids
and cochlear implants
Curiosity
Teasing
Bullying
What is bullying?
• Intentional, unprovoked abuse
• Imbalance of power
• Repetition (though not always)
of students (grades 6-10)
have been bullied at least once.
Smith and Brain , 2000; van Cleave et al., 2006.
What is bullying?
Being made fun of, called
names, or insulted
Having rumors spread
about you
Being threatened with
harm
What is bullying?
Being pushed, shoved,
tripped, or spit on
Being coerced to do things
you did not want to do
Having your property
destroyed on purpose
What is bullying?
Being excluded from
activities on purpose
Had hurtful information
posted online
(cyberbullying)
What does bullying really look like?
Effects of bullying
• Physical and behavioral problems
• Psychosocial and emotional development
• Reduced quality of life (QoL)
• Self-esteem
• Mental health
• Academic performance and absenteeism
“… lying in bed, in the dark, afraid of going back to
school, afraid of seeing the bullies ...”
~ Stuart McNaughton, He is not me
McKay et al., 2008; McNaughton, 2013; Willkins-Shurmer et al., 2003.
Bullying and hearing loss
• Children with hearing loss are at risk for being
bullied.
• Twice as likely?
Similar percentage to
• 20-30% overall?
typical adolescent
population
Anmyr et al., 2011; Dalton, 2011; Bauman et al., 2000; Sullivan, 2006.
Bullying and hearing loss
• No significant difference on mean levels of
victimization between children with hearing
loss and hearing peers.
• Self-report vs. proxy report
Kouwenburg et al., 2012; Percy_Smith et al., 2008 .
Bullying and hearing loss
Percy-Smith et al. .
Bullying and hearing loss
• However, children with hearing loss;
• Have higher ratings of loneliness
• Feel more ignored
• Feel socially excluded
• Received more mean comments
• Reported fewer invitations to parties
“… those girls who ridiculed my advances in the
cruelest ways possible.”
~ Stuart McNaughton, He is not me
Kouwenburg et al., 2012.
Bullying and hearing loss
• Previous studies
• Expect higher percentages of overall bullying
• Do not show higher overall bullying
• Show differences in bullying types
• Often use ad hoc instruments
• No studies have explored bullying in this
population with national data.
Kouwenburg et al., 2012.
Our study
• Do children (10-18 years) with hearing loss
experience bullying differently than hearing
peers?
• Overall percentage of children bullied
• Type of bullying
• Gender differences
• Frequency of bullying
• Reason for bullying
Participants
Variable
Hearing Aids
(n = 11)
Cochlear
Implants (n = 44)
Mean age
(months)
13.36 (1.75)
10-15
12.70 (2.42)
8-18
Mean age at
Intervention
(months)*
6.25 (1.58)*
3-8
42.74 (26.72)*
12-108
Mean duration of
device use
(months)*
157.25 (19.35)
125-174
12.64 (34.41)
24-168
*Not all participants reported age at intervention or duration of device use.
Methods
• Online survey via Qualtrics
• Bullying
• School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the
national Crime Victimization Survey
• Nationally used questionnaire
• Instances and frequency of bullying
Has another student …
• Made fun of you, called you names, or insulted you?
• Spread rumors about you?
• Threatened you with harm?
• Pushed you, shoved you, tripped you, or spit on you?
• Tried to make you do things you did not want to do?
• Excluded you from activities on purpose?
• Destroyed your property on purpose?
• Posted hurtful information about you on the internet?
If they answered yes to any item…
• Frequency of occurrence
• Once or twice this school year
• Once or twice a month
• Once or twice a week
• Nearly every day
• Don’t know
• Notification of an adult
• Reason for being bullied
• Do you think you were bullied because of
your hearing loss or cochlear implant?
Results: Overall bullying
16% more children with hearing loss
vs. hearing peers experience
bullying at least once.
Results: Types of bullying
Results: Types of bullying
Being teased: 8% difference (26% vs. 18%)
Being coerced: 9% difference (15% vs. 6%)
Being excluded: 13% difference (16% vs. 3%)
Results: Gender differences
We expect boys to
report higher
percentages of
physical bullying.
Results: Gender differences
Results: Gender differences
Boys with hearing loss more often experience:
Coercion (12% vs. 5%)
Exclusion (15% vs. 3%)
Results: Gender differences
We expect girls to
report higher
percentages of
social bullying.
Results: Gender differences
Results: Gender differences
Girls with hearing loss more often experience
teasing (31% vs. 19%), coercion (17% vs. 6%), and
exclusion (17% vs. 2%).
Number of children bullied at least once
Results: Age differences
12
62%
10
50%
8
6
4
2
0
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Chronologic age (years)
16
17
18
Results: Frequency of bullying
Results: Reason for getting
bullied
• Do you think you were bullied because of your
hearing loss?
Results: Reason for getting
bullied
• Do you think you were bullied because of your
hearing loss?
•52.3% said yes.
Discussion
• Overall rates of being bullied are higher in
children with hearing loss (42% vs. 28%).
• Children with hearing loss more often endure:
• Teasing, coercion, and exclusion.
• These patterns persist across gender, but a
higher percentage of girls experience them.
• Bullying is highest between 12-15 years of age.
• 50% of those who were bullied think it was
because of their hearing loss.
Overall rates of being bullied
• Overall rates of being bullied are higher in
children with hearing loss (42% vs. 28%).
• Higher than hearing peers
• On par with other children with disabilities
• Would expect greater difference with
concomitant conditions
Smith and Brain , 2000; van Cleave et al., 2006.
Types of bullying
• Children with hearing loss more often endure:
• Teasing, Coercion, Exclusion
• In line with previous research
• Feeling more ignored and left out
• Receiving more mean comments
Age-related factors
• Bullying is highest between 12-15 years of age
• Especially true for social/verbal bullying
• Puberty onset
• School changes
• Social skills
Due et al., 2005; Archer & Cote, 2005; Peskin et al., 2006.
Reason for bullying
• 50% of those who were bullied think it was
because of their hearing loss.
• How do we know?
• Explore why they perceive the hearing loss
as the reason
• Did our question bias them?
• Examine other indices of predisposition
Future directions
Future directions
• Focus groups
• Physical, communicative, social differences?
• Effects of long-term bullying
• Protective factors to decrease long-term
consequences
• Bullying prevention programs
• Develop student bill of rights
• Tolerance and diversity
• When to start?
Thank you.
Differences in children with hearing
loss who do/do not get bullied?
Bullied at least
once
Not bullied
12.9 (2.1)
12.6 (2.5)
63%
53%
Caucasian
77%
83%
African American
10%
3%
Asian
7%
3%
Native American
10%
0%
Ethnicity (Hispanic)
7%
17%
Age (years)
% Female
Race
Differences in children with hearing
loss who do/do not get bullied?
Bullying and gender
Girls
• Rate QoL more
positively through
age 10
• Social bullying
(rumors, exclusion)
Frisen et al., 2010; Sullivan, 2006.
Boys
• Rate QoL more
positively after age 10
• Physical bullying
(hitting, pushing, etc.)
Bullying and age
• Instances of bullying decrease with age.
• Higher levels in elementary, middle school
• Peaks in transition years (e.g., 9th grade)
• However, the TYPE of bullying changes.
Physical bullying
Verbal, social, and cyber
bullying
Graham et al., 2003; Due et al., 2005; Archer & Cote, 2005; Peskin et al., 2006.
Bullying and differences
• Being different from the majority increases
likelihood of being victimized.
• Children with observable disabilities
• 2-3 times as likely to be bullied
• Particularly with chronic conditions
• Increased teasing focused on disability
• Increased social isolation
Higher proportions of children with special health care
needs experience bullying: 43% vs. 32%.
Frisen et al., 2010; Olweus, 1978; Hugh-Jones & Smith, 1999; Sullivan, 2006;
Van Cleave et al., 2006.