Differences in emotion knowledge among Filipino deaf children, adolescents, and young adults

Abstract

Developmental evidence regarding emotion knowledge and deafness has come almost exclusively from Western populations. In this study, we examined associations between deafness, emotion understanding (EU), and affective recognition and labelling (ARL) in deaf and hearing individuals from the Philippines. A sample of 205 Filipino participants (102 deaf; ages 8 to 22 years) completed the Diagnostic Assessment of Non-Verbal Ability – 2 and the Test of Emotion Comprehension to measure ARL and EU, respectively. Results from hierarchical linear regressions show that, after controlling for age and verbal ability, both groups were on par on total ARL skills. In contrast, the deaf cohort performed poorer on total EU relative to the hearing controls over and above age and verbal ability. Several possible explanations for findings were also discussed.