Alcohol and drug use among deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals: A secondary analysis of NHANES 2013–2014

ABSTRACT

Background: Within the field of behavioral health research, one of the most understudied populations is the US deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) population—a diverse group of individuals with hearing loss that have varied language and communication preferences, community affiliations, and sociocultural norms. Recent research identified concerning behavioral health disparities experienced by the D/HH population; yet, little research has been conducted to extend these findings to the topic of substance use disorder. Methods: To begin to fill this gap, the authors conducted a secondary analysis of data from the 2013–2014 administration of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, comparing alcohol and drug use between participants based on their reported hearing status, i.e., D/HH or hearing. Results: Findings suggest that the overall lifetime prevalence of alcohol and drug use does not differ based on hearing status, and that D/HH and hearing adolescents begin using cannabis on a similar timeline. However, findings also revealed that D/HH respondents were more likely to have been regular cannabis users and heavy alcohol users than hearing respondents. In other words, when D/HH individuals use substances, they tend to be heavy users. Conclusions: These findings stress the importance of directing resources to the prevention and treatment of heavy alcohol use in the D/HH population, given that binge drinking is associated with a number of health problems and social consequences. Additionally, the continuation of this empirical work is rather urgent given recent legislative changes regarding cannabis use. D/HH individuals possess a number of risk factors for substance use disorder and, as such, may be more greatly impacted by these legislative changes than individuals from the general US population. It is imperative that this impact be captured by future research efforts in order to inform the development of prevention and intervention efforts for the traditionally underserved D/HH population.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol use
• deaf
• drug use
• hard-of-hearing
• substance use disorder

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Meera Sreedhara, MPH, for her contributions to the description of the NHANES data set in the Methods section of this article.

Author contributions

Melissa L. Anderson contributed to the research conception and design, interpretation of results, writing, and revision of this article; Bei-Hung Chang contributed to the research conception and design, data analysis, interpretation of the results, writing, and revision; Nisha Kini contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, and writing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIH), through grant KL2TR000160. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The funding organization had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.