This study investigated the expressed attitudes of deaf adults as well as hearing parents and teachers of deaf children in Israel toward career choices for deaf and hearing people by asking the participants to rate the suitability of 14 professions for deaf and hearing people. The results, in general, were consistent with those of other studies in the United States, England, Italy, South Africa and India with hearing teachers and parents of deaf children, which indicated that the hearing status of imagined advisees selectively influenced attitudes toward the suitability of certain professions. Deaf adults in Israel gave signiflcantly lower ratings for deaf advisees on 10 out of 14 professions and did not And any of the professions to be more suitable for a deaf advisee when compared to a hearing advisee. These results are in contrast to those found by Parasnis, Samar and Mandke (1996) with deaf adults in India. Implications ofthese flndings

The effect of sociocultural environment on self-evaluated occupational competence was examined among 81 Jewish high school girls with hearing loss (HL) or normal hearing in four groups: ultra-orthodox (UO) with HL, secular with HL, and two matched hearing groups. Participants completed questionnaires on occupational competence. Findings showed that participants with HL rated highly prestigious occupations that require communication as less suitable for them than did hearing participants. UO participants rated less prestigious occupations as more suitable for them than did secular participants. A significant interaction emerged for highly prestigious – low communicative occupations. UO participants with HL rated them as more suitable than did their hearing peers, whereas secular participants with HL rated them as less suitable than did their hearing peers. The results emphasize the need for occupational counseling to account for a disability as well as for social context.

Introduction The meaning of a communication is transmitted not only by what is said but also by how it is said and by the speaker's mood and attitude toward what is said. The speaker's tone of voice and facial expressions often provide a listener with as much information about the speaker's emotional state as does the semantic content of the utterances (Schiff & Thayer, 1974), helping listeners to better understand the speaker's intent. Thus, the ability to communicate the emotional content of spoken stimuli is an important factor for successful everyday communication. Failure to communicate these nonverbal affective aspects may create misunderstandings and poor social interactions (Rieffe & Terwogt, 2000). Although speakers may differ in their ability to express emotions, research has demonstrated that accurate judgments of emotions and feelings can be made from wordless vocal messages (Hammermeister & Timms, 1989; Siegman & Feldstein, 1987; Wallbott & Scherer, 1986). The clearest, most consistent auditory factors in signaling the speaker's emotional state were found to be the mean value of the fundamental frequency (F0), its range, and its rate of changes. Duration of production and changes in voice intensity were also described as important parameters (Scherer, 1982, 1986; Siegman & Feldstein, 1987). Neutral utterances, for example, showed changes in F0 that were relatively slow, with a smooth and continuous contour shape throughout each utterance, and length was relatively short. In contrast, the contour shapes for angry utterances showed high F0, with a considerably greater range of F0 compared to the range for neutral utterances. Also, angry utterances demonstrated a higher intensity and rate of speech (Scherer, 1986; Williams & Stevens, 1972). Visual transmission of emotions is considered to be even more efficient. Visual cues regarding emotions are clear, and observers can reliably identify different emotions based on them (Fridlund, Ekman, & Oster, 1987; Hess, Kappas, & Scherer, 1988; Most, Weisel, & Zaychik, 1993; Wallbott & Scherer, 1986). Researchers have suggested that anger, disgust, happiness, fear, sadness, and surprise are each expressed visually in a universal way (Ekman, 1982). Previous Research on Children's Production of Emotions Young children's ability to produce emotions has been a focus of previous research, but mostly emphasizing the development of facial expressions rather than vocal output (Plutchik, 1994). Ekman and Friesen (1976) as well as Ekman and Oster (1979) claimed that even young infants (a few months old) exhibit 24 different recognizable facial expressions in response to various stimuli. Among 8-12 month olds, Young and Decarie (1977) identified 42 different facial expressions and 10 different vocal outcomes. Ekman and Oster (1979) summarized some of their conclusions in reference to infants' facial expressions as follows: 1. Facial musculature is fully formed and functional at birth. 2. Expressions similar to those of adults already appear in early infancy. 3. Infants aged 3-4 months show different facial expressions in response to exaggerated expressions of their caretakers. 4. Imitation of some facial expressions of the caretaker was seen among infants at age 2-3 weeks. 5. Preschool children know how most common facial expressions look, what they mean, and what kinds of situations typically elicit them. 6. Facial expressions play a role in social communication. As reported above, emotion, like other communicative intentions, is sometimes expressed through prosody alone, with no other cues (Gerard & Clement, 1998). Research has shown that young children already produce correct intonation, which means that they have acquired some prosodic elements. Nevertheless, the various typical prosodic patterns that are expressed during the production of specific emotions appear only later in life (Gerard & Clement, 1998). …

This study examined stress, attitudes, and expectations among mothers of deaf children who underwent cochlear implantation (CI), as related to time elapsed since surgery. Participants were 64 mothers of such children at different points in the implantation process: candidates, 0-3 years postimplantation, and more than 3 years later. Expectations in communication and academic domains decreased as time since implantation passed. No differences emerged in stress levels between the 3 groups. Higher levels of mothers' and fathers' education correlated with lower stress levels. Older mothers expressed lower levels on the cohesion dimension of family functioning. Findings suggested the need to consider mothers' expectations in the rehabilitation process and to encourage mothers' realistic expectations with regard to the effects of CI.

To better understand the work-family interface within the family domain, this study investigated crossover effects of two types of work-family conflict among 120 participants (60 married couples), these conflicts' relations with parental self-efficacy and perceived quality of parent-child interaction, and the contribution of attributions of importance to life roles on variance in these two parental outcomes. Results indicated complementary correlations between men's and women's conflicts. That is, work -> family conflict of one spouse was positively correlated to family -> work conflict of the other spouse. Both types of conflict were negatively correlated with parental self-efficacy and perceived quality of parent-child interaction. Parents' sense of self-efficacy in their parenting role was associated with the higher value they attributed to that role and to the dual role of working parent, and with the stronger sense of commitment to the parenting and dual roles. Theoretical and practical issues are discussed.

This article examines the effects of school organizational and educational climate, and a teacher’s sense of efficacy, on general education teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion of students with special needs. The sample included 139 teachers from 17 elementary schools in the Northern District of Israel. The results of Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses indicated that school climate and teachers’ sense of efficacy as well as participation in special education training were positively associated with teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion. Self-efficacy was the single most important factor affecting attitudes. School climate included six factors: supportive leadership; teachers’ autonomy; prestige of the teaching profession; renovations; teachers’ collaboration; and workload. Examination of the intercorrelations among these factors and with attitudes revealed that those teachers who perceived their school as having supportive leadership, encouraged renovations and collaboration but did not threaten teachers’ autonomy, tended to express more positive attitudes towards inclusion.

This study examined 74 deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) and 91 hearing high school students regarding their own occupational aspirations and their evaluations of occupational competence (EOCs) for deaf adults. In the EOC, participants rated the suitability of 25 occupations (varying according to prestige and required level of communication) for deaf men and women. The results showed that occupations requiring intensive communication levels, regardless of their prestige, were evaluated as much less suitable for deaf individuals than were those requiring less communication. D/HH adolescents did not find highly prestigious occupations as suitable for deaf adults even when communication barriers were irrelevant. Both D/HH and hearing participants expressed biased evaluations of deaf women's competence, but no further evidence emerged for stereotypic attitudes. Higher educational aspirations among hearing adolescents, especially hearing males, correlated with a higher EOC of deaf adults. No such associations emerged for D/HH participants. No gender effects emerged. Implications of these outcomes for career development, especially for females, were discussed.

The present study examined the relationships between teachers' and communication clinicians' self-reported knowledge on cochlear implants and their expectations of CIs. The authors also explored these professionals' views regarding the child's communication mode, educational setting, and social options following cochlear implantation. The participants were 47 teachers of deaf students and 35 communication clinicians. The results showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in self-reported knowledge on CI. Both groups knew very little about mapping, costs, or insurance, and reported good knowledge about candidacy. Expectations from CIs were moderate to high, and were significantly related to respondents' knowledge and specific experience with CIs. Most professionals in both groups supported spoken-language communication, individual inclusion, and social exposure to children with normal hearing as well as to children with hearing impairments.

This study examined strategies for initiating social interactions with peers, among 4 children with hearing impairment, aged 33 to 36 months, attending a special early education center or a regular kindergarten. The study investigated initiation type (related to partner's hearing status) and rates of initiation success/failure vis-a-vis hearing and deaf partners. Results revealed (a) more initiations in the regular program than in the special program; (b) in the special program, much more successful initiations toward children with hearing impairment than toward hearing children; (c) vocalization as the most frequent strategy used with both hearing and hearing-impaired partners; and (d) referential decisions about their initiations even among young children with hearing impairment (made by changing frequencies of various strategies according to partner's hearing status). The discussion addressed implications regarding integration of children with hearing impairment into regular educational settings.

This study examined differences between deaf/hard-of-hearing (D/HH) and hearing persons with regard to two interrelated and continuous developmental processes: attachment (Bowlby, 1969) and individuation (Mahler, 1963). The study, also examined intergroup differences in two personal variables assumed to be influenced by these processes: self-esteem and well-being. Participants comprised 38 D/HH and 42 hearing persons aged 18 to 35 years from middle and upper-middle socioeconomic classes. All the D/HH participants had graduated from mainstreamed educational programs. Findings showed that D/HH participants expressed more fear of attachment and more fear of individuation than did hearing participants. D/HH participants also revealed a lower self-esteem and lower level of well-being compared to hearing participants. Higher fear of attachment correlated with lower levels of self-esteem and well-being. Results supported the theorized relationships between attachment and individuation processes and between these two processes and personality characteristics such as self-esteem and well-being.

Differences between religious and secular people in their attitudes towards persons with disabilities may originate in social-cultural factors, such as values and norms, as well as in personality factors like dogmatism. Since religious and secular people differ in these characteristics, it was expected that they would differ in their attitudes as well. Attitudes towards persons with disabilities reflect complex interpersonal and intrapersonal processes and therefore should be assessed with multidimensional measures. In the present study the attitudes of 83 religious and 51 secular Israeli adolescents were measured with Siller's Disability Factor Scale–General (DFS-G). The questionnaire included seven factors that reflect psychodynamic processes operating to protect the individual against the threat and anxiety associated with the presence of a person with a disability or even by the mere consideration of his/her condition. Level of dogmatism was measured as well. No differences in dogmatism were found between the two groups. Secular participants expressed more positive attitudes than religious participants on two attitude scales—Generalized Rejection and Authoritarian Virtuousness. These two scales express special, segregative, and unequal attitudes. The findings give some support to the claim that religious affiliation, even if it encourages care for persons with disabilities, is associated with segregation and attribution of unequal social status to these people.

This study examined the effects of labeling and personal contact on teachers' attitudes toward low-achieving students. Seventy-two female high school teachers participated in the study. One half of the teachers (n = 36) had contact with low-achieving students who were attending special classes in which they were preparing for the matriculation exams, whereas the other one half had no contact with these students. Teachers' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral attitudes toward either a hypothetical "student in a special class" or a hypothetical "low-achieving student in a regular class" were evaluated by semantic differential scales. A multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance yielded a nonsignificant main effect for group membership (i.e., teachers with vs. without contact), a significant main effect of attitude target (i.e., students who attended regular vs. special classes), and a significant interaction effect. Post hoc comparisons revealed that (a) teachers without contact expressed more positive cognitive and emotional attitudes toward students in special classes than toward students in regular classes; (b) teachers with contact did not express different attitudes toward the 2 target groups of students; (c) teachers without contact expressed more positive cognitive, behavioral, and emotional attitudes toward students in special classes than did the teachers with contact; and (d) the 2 groups of teachers did not differ in their attitudes toward the regular class students. The results indicated that the label of the special class had a positive effect on teachers' attitudes, but that contact had a negative effect.

This study explores the attitudes of future professionals working with students with disabilities towards four exceptionality groups: persons with deafness, with paralysis, with mental retardation (MR) and with delinquent behaviour, and specifically examines how deafness is perceived in comparison with the three other groups. Undergraduate students' (N=177) attitudes towards the four groups were tapped using a semantic differential scale referring to the cognitive, emotional and behavioural components of attitudes. Participants' degree of contact with people with disabilities was also reported. Results indicated that attitudes towards people with deafness were more positive than those towards the other three groups. Attitudes towards persons with paralysis were more positive than towards persons with MR and with delinquent behaviour, except when personality was considered. Emotional reactions and behavioural tendencies towards persons with delinquent behaviour were the most negative. Contact with people with disabilities had significant but low correlations with some aspects of the attitudes towards people with MR and paralysis. In general, the results of this study suggested that deafness was perceived as a physical disability and not as a social phenomenon. They also demonstrated that attitudes towards people with disabilities are a function of the particular disability condition and are multidimensional.