SOCIAL COGNITION: BRIDGING THE GAP IN ADOLESCENTS AMID ADJUSTMENT AND VISUAL IMPAIRMENT (Pages 20-49) by Ms. Bincy Mathew* and Dr. B. William Dharma Raja** in THE ENGLISH INDIA / ISSN: 2321-1172 (Online); 2347-2634 (Print)

Social cognition has been an eternal pursuit of humanity. Although, numerous studies on cognitive abilities have been explored, the role of social cognition in adolescents with visual impairment is largely unexplored in India. The social cognitive abilities of problem solving, critical thinking and decision making in adolescents with visual impairment is paramount in their everyday life and the influence it has on adjustment is unfathomable. The study focused on the relation between social cognition and adjustment behaviour of adolescents with visual impairment studying in Standards IX-XII in the State of Tamil Nadu, India. The target population of 278 included 124 fully visually blind and 154 partially sighted adolescents. Two self-developed tools namely Problem Solving Scale and Adjustment Behaviour Scale were employed to collect the data. Findings revealed that problem solving had influence on adjustment behaviour of adolescents with visual impairment and it had positive correlation with adjustment behaviour. The results suggest that the life of adolescents with visual impairment is by and large affected by changes they make in their social relations and the uncertainties they encounter to make necessary adjustment to oneself and to others in their relationship greatly depends on social cognition.ocial cognition has been an eternal pursuit of humanity. Although, numerous studies on cognitive abilities have been explored, the role of social cognition in adolescents with visual impairment is largely unexplored in India. The social cognitive abilities of problem solving, critical thinking and decision making in adolescents with visual impairment is paramount in their everyday life and the influence it has on adjustment is unfathomable. The study focused on the relation between social cognition and adjustment behaviour of adolescents with visual impairment studying in Standards IX-XII in the State of Tamil Nadu, India. The target population of 278 included 124 fully visually blind and 154 partially sighted adolescents. Two self-developed tools namely Problem Solving Scale and Adjustment Behaviour Scale were employed to collect the data. Findings revealed that problem solving had influence on adjustment behaviour of adolescents with visual impairment and it had positive correlation with adjustment behaviour. The results suggest that the life of adolescents with visual impairment is by and large affected by changes they make in their social relations and the uncertainties they encounter to make necessary adjustment to oneself and to others in their relationship greatly depends on social cognition.Keywords: Adjustment, Adolescents, Social Cognition, Visual Impairment.