Attitudes toward Profoundly Hearing Impaired and Deaf Individuals: Links with Intergroup Anxiety, Social Dominance Orientation, and Contact

Abstract

For the 54 million Americans living with disabilities, negative attitudes foster biased communication and barriers to social, political, and economic integration. Using self-reports of hearing-abled individuals (N = 234), this study takes an intergroup approach to explore factors surrounding attitudes toward communicative interactions with profoundly hearing impaired and deaf individuals (PHIDIs). Findings confirm the intergroup contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954) in this particular context while introducing social dominance as a construct of great utility to intergroup theorizing. Attitudes were less negative for hearing individuals with less intergroup anxiety, lower social dominance orientation, and more communication contact with profoundly hearing impaired/deaf individuals. Finally, differences among communication, cognition, and attitudes were assessed in terms of biological sex and the decision to enroll in a Manual Communication course. The results of these analyses indicate that males are higher in social dominance orientation, and that females and individuals enrolled in Manual Communication courses have more positive attitudes toward PHIDIs.

Keywords:

• Disabilities
• Intergroup Communication
• Intergroup Contact
• Mixed-Hearing Interactions

Acknowledgments

The authors are especially grateful to the anonymous reviewers of this article for their insightful suggestions throughout the review process, as well as to Keith Weber for his assistance with the article. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2012 annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association.

Notes

Note. The percentages do not equal 100 exactly due to rounding.

*Significant at the p < .05 level. **Significant at the p < .001 level.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara LaBelle

Sara LaBelle (MA, West Virginia University) is a PhD student in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University where Melanie Booth-Butterfield is a Professor (PhD, University of Missouri-Columbia) and Christine E. Rittenour (PhD, University of Nebraska at Lincoln) is an Assistant Professor.