Thinking styles and well-being among DHH students

Drawing on Sternberg's theory of thinking styles and self-determination theory, this study examined how thinking styles relate to subjective well-being (SWB) among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) university students, with academic motivation and grit modeled as parallel mediators and hearing-assistive technology (HAT) use as a grouping factor. A total of 365 DHH students from Chinese universities, including 200 HAT users and 165 non-users, completed validated measures of thinking styles (Types I, II, and III), grit, academic motivation, and SWB, indexed by positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Independent-samples t-tests revealed no significant group differences across these focal variables. Structural equation modeling showed that grit and academic motivation served as significant mediating pathways linking thinking styles to SWB across the models. Multi-group analysis further revealed structural non-invariance: the indirect effects of thinking styles on life satisfaction through grit were significantly stronger among non-HAT users (β = .40-.45, p < .001) than among HAT users (β = -.05-.10, ns). These findings suggest that HAT use may not be associated with mean-level differences in cognitive or well-being outcomes at the university stage, but may condition the motivational ecology through which thinking styles are translated into well-being. The study highlights the need for differentiated educational supports that reduce listening effort for HAT users and access-coordination effort for non-users.