PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY COMPLICATED BY VISUAL IMPAIRMENT: FEATURES OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Abstract

It is customary to consider interpersonal relationships as a significant factor influencing the development of individual mental processes and personality. In recent years, studies that reveal the specifics of interpersonal relationships in persons with different types of dysontogenesis, including those with intellectual disabilities, have been of particular interest to specialists. This article presents the results of studying the interpersonal relationships of adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID), complicated by visual impairment. When it comes to comparing the interpersonal relations in adolescents with intellectual disabilities, complicated by visual impairment and their peers with uncomplicated intellectual disabilities, the results of the study show that there are features which are general to both groups and features which are specific to only one group. In the surveyed groups, only one-third of adolescents consider their mother and father as a parental couple. More often than not, they communicate with their mother and refuse to communicate with their father. The adolescents of both groups are characterized by the following: low involvement in terms of interaction with peers; the presence of emotionally deficient or emotionally excessive reactions (with a predominance of the emotionally deficient type); poor decision-making, the desire to shift responsibility to others; lack of interest to become a leader; frequent conflicts with peers and inability to resolve them constructively. In addition, adolescents in the surveyed groups often demonstrate reactions to frustration in an active-aggressive or a passive-suffering manner. Moreover, in adolescents with uncomplicated ID, reactions of an active-aggressive type dominate, and in adolescents with ID complicated by visual impairment, reactions of a passive-suffering type are dominant. It is important to note that adolescents with ID complicated by visual impairment tend to be isolated from their peers and show high affection for home and their families.