Reliability and Validity of the Adapter COPE Scale with Deaf College Students

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Adapted Coping Operations Preference Enquiry (COPE) Scale with deaf college students. The Adapted COPE identifies15 strategies for managing stresors. 117 deaf college students from Gallaudet University, between the ages of 18 and 25, participated in the present study. When used with this sample, the majority of the Adapted COPE subscales evidenced high or moderate internal consistency reliability, except for the Mental Disengagement and Active Coping subscales. To investigate structural validity, principle component analysis was conducted utilizing quartimax rotation. Initial analyses retained 17 factors and failed to replicate the intended subscale structure of the measure. Post-hoc t-tests indicated that responses to the Original COPE by hearing participants and the Adapted COPE by deaf participants were largely similar, except for the Substance Use subscale, with significantly higher mean scores in the deaf sample. This suggests that the psychometric analyses of the original COPE scale indicate a need for additional restructuring of the measure

Signing While Driving: An Investigation of Divided Attention Resources Among Deaf Drivers

Safely operating vehicles require significant visual attention. While attention can be divided, cognitive resources are not limitless. Deaf and hearing participants engaged in a simulated driving task while simultaneously engaging in a conversation in their preferred language. Results indicated that hearing drivers may have a performance advantage over deaf drivers, though it is so minor that it will not likely be seen outside of the laboratory setting. The results also indicated differing cognitive processing among hearing and deaf drivers. The results may inform policy, reduce stigma, and serve as the base for future research on deaf-specific cognitive factors of driving

Reliability and Validity of the Adapter COPE Scale with Deaf College Students

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Adapted Coping Operations Preference Enquiry (COPE) Scale with deaf college students. The Adapted COPE identifies15 strategies for managing stresors. 117 deaf college students from Gallaudet University, between the ages of 18 and 25, participated in the present study. When used with this sample, the majority of the Adapted COPE subscales evidenced high or moderate internal consistency reliability, except for the Mental Disengagement and Active Coping subscales. To investigate structural validity, principle component analysis was conducted utilizing quartimax rotation. Initial analyses retained 17 factors and failed to replicate the intended subscale structure of the measure. Post-hoc t-tests indicated that responses to the Original COPE by hearing participants and the Adapted COPE by deaf participants were largely similar, except for the Substance Use subscale, with significantly higher mean scores in the deaf sample. This suggests that the psychometric analyses of the original COPE scale indicate a need for additional restructuring of the measure

Signing While Driving: An Investigation of Divided Attention Resources Among Deaf Drivers

Safely operating vehicles require significant visual attention. While attention can be divided, cognitive resources are not limitless. Deaf and hearing participants engaged in a simulated driving task while simultaneously engaging in a conversation in their preferred language. Results indicated that hearing drivers may have a performance advantage over deaf drivers, though it is so minor that it will not likely be seen outside of the laboratory setting. The results also indicated differing cognitive processing among hearing and deaf drivers. The results may inform policy, reduce stigma, and serve as the base for future research on deaf-specific cognitive factors of driving