Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Effects of Social Networks on the Quality of Life in an Elder and Middle-Aged Deaf Community Sample

This article endeavors to investigate the role of social net-works in contributing to the quality of life of an elder and middle-aged Deaf population. In particular, it poses the question of whether a certain network composition (deaf and hearing network persons) provides positive resources to improve quality of life and attempts to identify moderat-ing and mediating connections between social networks and quality of life. Based on the data collected in a survey of 107 members of the Deaf community aged 45–81 years, it was possible to ascertain the fact that a larger social network is significantly associated with a higher quality of life, but the size of the deaf network is principally decisive. The hypoth-esis that a bicultural network composition would have a par-ticular positive effect on the quality of life could not be confirmed. Findings revealed that the effect of deaf network size on the quality of life is mediated by personal resources concerning self-efficacy and communication skills. More-over, evidence was sound for the functional equivalence of social and personal resources, which suggests that potential negative effects of reduced personal resources on the quality of life could possibly be compensated by a larger deaf net-work and vice versa