Impulsivity and profound early deafness: a cross cultural inquiry

Psychological tests of impulsivity were administered to 250 adolescent subjects with early profound deafness in the United States (New York State) and Yugoslavia, and in 100 hearing adolescents in each country. Subjects were screened for brain damage and matched for IQ and socio economic status. Results indicate that the deaf were more impulsive than the hearing and to a comparable extent in both countries, while Yugoslavs in general were more impulsive than Americans. The large sample of normal deaf subjects provides also a first approximation to normative data for the deaf in the psychological measures used.