Psychological resilience in deaf or hard-of-hearing students and associated factors: A cross-sectional study

Mental health in deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) students is a severe issue. Psychological resilience is a well-established protective factor of mental health. We aimed to examine the current situation of psychological resilience in D/HH students and identify the associated factors. Using multi-stage sampling, we conveniently selected 2 special education colleges tailored for D/HH students and randomly selected 3 classrooms from each grade in each college with clustering sampling. Psychological resilience was measured by the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Univariate and multivariate linear regression models were applied to identify multiple levels of associated factors including individual, family, peer and social environmental factors. D/HH students had a middle level of psychological resilience. The results in multivariate linear regression model showed that D/HH students with leadership experience, acquired deafness, very good lip-reading ability, family annual income 120,000 RMB or above, more D/HH friends or both D/HH and hearing friends, more social support demonstrated better psychological resilience. Our findings would inform practice and policy to identify the D/HH students who are at greater risk and develop effective intervention strategies to improve the psychological resilience and mental health in this marginal population.