title: Symptoms of Psychopathology in Hearing-Impaired Children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Children with hearing loss are at risk of developing psychopathology, which has detrimental consequences for academic and psychosocial functioning later in life. Yet, the causes of the extensive variability in outcomes are not fully understood. Therefore, the authors wanted to objectify symptoms of psychopathology in children with cochlear implants or hearing aids, and in normally hearing peers, and to identify various risk and protective factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  The large sample (mean age = 11.8 years) included three subgroups with comparable age, gender, socioeconomic status, and nonverbal intelligence: 57 with cochlear implants, 75 with conventional hearing aids, and 129 children who were normally hearing. Psychopathology was assessed by means of self- and parent-report measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children with cochlear implants showed similar levels of symptoms of psychopathology when compared with their normally hearing peers, but children with hearing aids had significantly higher levels of psychopathological symptoms, while their hearing losses were approximately 43 dB lower than those of children with implants. Type of device was related with internalizing symptoms but not with externalizing symptoms. Furthermore, lower age and sufficient language and communication skills predicted less psychopathological symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children who are deaf or profoundly hearing impaired and have cochlear implants have lower levels of psychopathological symptoms than children with moderate or severe hearing loss who have hearing aids. Most likely, it is not the type of hearing device but rather the intensity of the rehabilitation program that can account for this difference. This outcome has major consequences for the next generation of children with hearing loss because children with profound hearing impairment still have the potential to have levels of psychopathology that are comparable to children who are normally hearing.
authors: 1Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands; 2Department of Developmental Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; 3Dutch Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and 4Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors: Stephanie C P M
authors: SC
authors: Theunissen
authors: Carolien
authors: C
authors: Rieffe
authors: Wim
authors: W
authors: Soede
authors: Jeroen J
authors: JJ
authors: Briaire
authors: Lizet
authors: L
authors: Ketelaar
authors: Maartje
authors: M
authors: Kouwenberg
authors: Johan H M
authors: JH
authors: Frijns
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology*