Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students experience unique stressors as a minority linguistic and cultural group that may contribute to problematic substance and alcohol use behavior. Proper coping strategies may be one protective factor to avoid reliance on alcohol as a means to reduce stress.

The current study compared the endorsement of coping strategies by DHH students and hearing individuals and their relationship to drinking to cope behavior. Data was collected among DHH (n = 126) and hearing students (n = 349) at a large university.

While these two groups did not differ in their levels of problematic drinking behavior, there were differences observed in drinking to cope motives as well as in the levels of coping styles used. DHH students were found to endorse greater levels of emotion-oriented and task-oriented coping than hearing students. Drinking to cope motivations were also higher for DHH students, particularly those who endorsed greater emotion focused coping.

Interventions and educational efforts involving coping skills is a potentially important area of focus for the DHH student population. Further implications for understanding drinking behavior in this population are discussed.