Žalingų įpročių paplitimo mastai tampa didžiausią grėsmę visuomenės raidai ir gyvenimo kokybei keliančia prioritetine sveikatos ir socialinės politikos dalimi. Lietuvoje atlikta nemažai tyrimų, nagrinėjančių sveikų jaunuolių požiūrį ir polinkį į narkotines medžiagas. Ta��iau tam tikrų grupių jaunuolių, šiuo atveju jaunuolių, turinčių klausos negalę, pozicija žalingų įpročių atžvilgiu beveik nenagrinėta . / The spread of addiction is becoming a priority in the health and social policy, as it poses a threat to the development of the society and the quality of life. Quite a few studies have been carried out in Lithuania analysing the attitude and inclination of healthy young people to drugs. However, the position of certain youth groups, in this case – the position of youth with hearing disability, regarding addiction remains hardly ever analysed. As a result, it is quite difficult to get an idea about the specific character and maladies of life led by this group of young people.

The aim of the research is to evaluate the intellectual maturity and strengths and difficulties of primary school children with hearing disorders in comparison with healthy children. The following procedures have been employed in the research: Naglieri Jack A. DAP: Draw a Person A Quantitative Scoring System. Goodman R. SDQ: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. 64 deaf and hard of hearing children from first-forth grade and 40 hearing children of the same age participated in the survey. Results show that intellectual maturity of deaf and hard of hearing children is the same as the hearing children (t = 1,837, p = 0,069), so it doesn’t confirm data that children with hearing disorders have lower intellectual maturity than healthy children. Results of this research confirm data that deaf and hard of hearing children have more conduct problems and peer problems in comparison with hearing children (t = -2,635, p= 0,01; t = -2,711, p = 0,008). Results doesn’t confirm data that children with hearing disorders have lower value of social behavior than healthy children (t = 0,621, p = 0,536).