Psychological Characteristics of the Socialization of Special School Pupils with Visual Impairments

Abstract

Socialization of children with visual impairments is shaped by the constraints of the sensory defect, the degree of dependence on adults and the quality of the surrounding social environment, yet the age-specific features of this process in special school pupils remain insufficiently described. The aim of this study was to identify the psychological characteristics of social adaptation in pupils with visual impairments of primary school age and in adolescence. Pupils of special boarding schools completed the Socio-Psychological Questionnaire (IPS), which measures adaptation, maladjustment, sincerity-related indicators, self-acceptance, acceptance of others, emotional comfort, internal and external control, dominance, submissiveness and escapism, and the mean scores of the two age groups were compared. Adolescents demonstrated significantly higher adaptation (M = 126.34; p ≤ 0.001) and lower maladjustment (113.53 vs. 122.46; p ≤ 0.05) than younger pupils. At the same time, adolescents showed lower self-acceptance (37.53 vs. 45.57), higher self-non-acceptance (32.83 vs. 24.40) and lower emotional comfort (20.54 vs. 22.24; all p ≤ 0.05), as well as higher non-acceptance of others (24.98 vs. 20.42; p ≤ 0.001). Internal and external control, dominance, submissiveness and escapism did not differ between the age groups; low dominance combined with marked submissiveness and a tendency to avoid problems pointed to passive adaptation strategies in both groups. The socialization of pupils with visual impairments is thus ambivalent: behavioural adaptation improves with age, whereas self-related and emotional strain intensifies. Age-differentiated psychoprophylactic and psychocorrective programmes are required.