Deaf and hearing parents' interactions with eldest hearing children

Observational methods were used to gather data from 54 individuals in 9 Deaf-parented families and 9 hearing-parented families whose eldest hearing children were aged 7 to 11 years old. Transcripts of parent/child dyadic interactions during a vacation planning activity were analyzed using Condon, Cooper and Grotevant's (1984) Individuation Code. Repeated measures ANOVAS were conducted with the independent variables of the parent's gender (mother versus fathers) and group membership (Deaf-parented versus hearing-parented families) on the percentage of communication that reflected self-assertion, separateness, permeability, and mutuality. There were no significant differences between children from Deaf-parented families versus children from hearing-parented families. There was a significant main effect for parents in communication reflecting self-assertion; namely hearing parents had a higher percentage of self-assertive communication than Deaf parents.