Psychodynamic conflicts in hearing children of deaf parents

A case study documents the consequences of parental deafness on the personality development of hearing children. Of central dynamic significance are unacknowledged feelings of resentment generated by (1) acute feelings of humiliation experienced about the parents' imperfections, (2) identity confusion resulting from the parents' suspicious attitude toward the hearing world, and (3) the inevitable role-reversal resulting from the parents' handicapped status. The possibility of taking triumphant pleasure in more fortunate life circumstances evokes intense guilt and forms the basis for a conflictual attitude toward success. A proclivity toward guilt appears to be an outstanding psychological characteristic of children of handicapped parents, irrespective of the nature of the handicap. Some relevant variables include: greater resentment due to unavoidable early frustrations, a reluctance to direct aggression outward, despair about making reparations to parents seen as damaged by the child's aggression, and absence of external controls on the expression hostility (victories are easy). Some parallels are noted between conflicts displayed in hearing children of deaf parents and children of immigrant parents.