Facial Emotion Recognition in Adolescents With Disabilities

Emotion recognition is very important for successful social interactions. This study compared adolescents with intellectual disability and adolescents with hearing impairment on a facial emotion recognition task. The sample for this study comprised 78 adolescents (46.2% females, 53.8% males; M age = 16.4, SD = 1.0) divided into three groups ( N = 26) of adolescents with intellectual disability, adolescents with hearing impairment, and adolescents without disabilities. Emotion recognition abilities were measured using a computerized Emotion Recognition Test. Adolescents with intellectual disability achieved lower scores on Emotion Recognition Test in comparison with adolescents with hearing impairment and adolescents without disabilities. There were no significant differences on Emotion Recognition Test between adolescents with hearing impairment and adolescents without disabilities. Given the importance of emotion recognition in everyday functioning, it is of crucial importance to have emotional training programs as part of the school curriculum.