THE DERIVED SUPERORDINATE CONSTRUCTS
NEGATIVE POLE SELF-
LOADING
POSITIVE POLE
SAM The Immature -0.6371 The Calm
DON The Failures -0.9210 The Accomplished
RAY Weak Females 0.5065 Clever Men
ROSE Fit -0.3873 Artistic
DOT Outdoor Sports 0.0445 Office Work
LUIS Friends 1.0760 Family
CHRIS Deaf Companions -0.1623 Artistic Hearing
NICK Feminine 0.0473 Masculine
ANNE Sad 0.1647 Happy
PAT Truthful Hearing 0.2844 Weak Deaf
KAREN Old Age 0.3094 Capable Adults
WILL The Talented -0.1447 The Weak
MEL Cruel Children 0.3837 Likeable Adults
ALAN Happy Friends -0.2880 Sad Family
RUSS Mature Relationships 0.1799 Youthful Excesses ROY Complicated Adults 0.5154 Uncertain Youth
PETE Old Ladies 0.1862 Masculine Activities
KATE Male Affection 0.4395 Mother Love
ANDY Calm -0.1422 Crazy
FAITH Morbid Adults -0.1375 Happy Youth
LIL Silly Talk -0.2152 Stupid Behaviour
PADDY Irresponsible Youth -1.0574 Respectable Adults JACK Conscientious Teacher 0.1906 The Lazy
GUS Talented People -0.0203 Lazy and Boring
DAN Aggressors -0.0577 The Weak
SETH Clever People 0.4889 Humerous People
LUCY The Clever 0.6398 The Beautiful
ARNOLD Childish People 0.2443 Adult Friends
JANE Superiority 0.5338 The Concerned
RENE Mature Teachers -0.0397 Childish Concerns
TANYA Worried -0.3216 Capable Deaf
RITA Hard Working Adults 0.6496 Happy Children
LANA Serious People -0.0190 Childish
MORRIS Funny Old People 0.7818 The Clever Young SID Artistic Hearing -0.2602 Athletic Deaf
ROB Lazy Men -0.7631 Artistic Women
SANDRA Talented Youth 0.2006 Venerable Age
TESS Strong People 0.4813 Sensitive People
MIKE Hearing Adult 0.6300 Deaf Child
NED Youthful Vigour 0.1225 Serious Adult
Finding
Prominent in Table 3 is ’uncertainty’. The traceable theme is that of, those with talent and success and the risk of a personal failure.
6.2 THE FORTY Y O U N G DEAF ADULTS 01 SAM
Sam was interviewed, during the several meetings at his home. Sam is a pleasant and quiet young person. He possesses much nervous energy. He fingerspells his own name slowly. He could understand the researcher’s name. However, he showed little understanding of the nature of a research programme. When using Total communication, Sam placed heavy reliance upon Sign Language. He has received no training in Sign language and has learned his Sign vocabulary from his young peers. His oral skill is extremely limited and is insufficient for formal communication. Sam was able to join in a conversation about the children in the first photograph, and did agree that the deaf child had grown into the young deaf adult in the second photograph. Sam managed a low score in recognising words written in English in the Word Game. This score was improved to average, in the re-run of the game, using Sign recognition. Sam has a good memory for names and was able to identify thirteen of the sixteen
individuals in the People Game. Sam has a lower total construct variation than the mean for the forty respondents, and this suggests he is reluctant to make distinct assessment of the elements. Sam has a construct Bias, greater than the mean. He has a preference for the description of 'similar' rather than 'different'. A low variability reinforces this conservative description. Sam requires a large dispersion scale, to place each element along a personal-interpersonal dimensions. This suggests that certain individuals have made a distinct impression
upon him.
The first three principal components each account for a similar total variation to that of the mean of the whole group. In this respect, Sam can be described as being typical of the other young deaf adults. The content analysis suggests that Sam talks with his mother. Father is a calming influence. Sam described himself as happy and hardworking. He thinks of himself as reasonably- clever. Sam is helpful, but sometimes unkind. He thinks of himself as a bad person in respect of his relationship with his girl friend. He claims a similarity with the good teacher, and a difference with the bad teacher. He suggested that the bad teacher is a boring person. Sam accepts his small physique, and his limited strength. He feels he is now more adult than child. He claimed no physical beauty. Sam does not claim the quality of very clever. The bad teacher is given this accolade. Sam claims some athleticism in great proficiency at snooker. Sam also claimed to be a fit person. Sam is a nice person, the bad teacher is not a nice person. Sam is sensible, interesting and serious. Sam rejected the poor qualities of the lazy person and the bad teacher, yet, Sam failed to associate himself, with his friend, the young person or the intelligent person.
In terms of the first principal component, again Sam presents himself as neither the serious, nor the easy going person. This suggests a very conservative outlook on life. In terms of the second component Sam is very close to his mother and grandparent but chooses to
distance himself from his father. Lastly, Sam distances himself most of all from the bad teacher. Sam appears heavily self critical and judges himself to be immature.
In total, Sam presents himself as caught between those who oppress and those who are considerate, caught between the easy-going and the serious, more immature than self assured, more conservative than flamboyant. In fact, as a young deaf teenager rather than as a young deaf adult.