SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.28 issue2Family support, self-efficacy and locus of control: validity evidence between constructsThe manifestation of solidarity in adolescents: a study of the moral personality author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Psicologia: ciência e profissão

Print version ISSN 1414-9893

Abstract

BREMM, Eduardo Scarantti  and  BISOL, Cláudia Alquati. Signing adolescence: narratives of deaf adolescents. Psicol. cienc. prof. [online]. 2008, vol.28, n.2, pp. 272-287. ISSN 1414-9893.

This study aims at understanding the meanings attributed to adolescence and to life experiences in the context of deafness, analyzing deaf adolescents’ narratives. Narrative interviews were made with three deaf adolescents whose parents are hearing, fluent users of Brazilian Sign Language, who have attended an elementary special school for the deaf. The interviews were made in sign language by a deaf mediator in a room with a one-way mirror, with simultaneous translation made by an interpreter. Data were analyzed using Ricoeur’s hermeneutics and discussed with contributions from psychology and psychoanalysis. Results indicate that many conflicts experienced by the deaf adolescents are similar to those experienced by the hearing adolescents. Specificities regarding deafness refer to reevaluations of the decisions made by their parents and to levels of dependence from hearing people. Differences among teenagers and their family contexts could also be noticed regarding communication, emotional development and participation in the deaf community.

Keywords : Deaf adolescents; Identity; Deafness; Narratives.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )