Antecedents of behavior disturbance in mildly mentally retarded young adults

Behavior disturbance was found to be more frequent among mildly retarded (MMR) than a group of young adults matched during childhood for age, sex and social class. Reasons for this were examined. An unstable environment in childhood was found to be significantly related to behavior disturbance in both MMR and controls. The greater frequency of behavior disturbance among the MMR was due to their more frequently experiencing unstable environments in childhood than comparisons. Further, when stability of upbringing was held constant, differences in behaviour disturbance between the two groups were no longer found. Central nervous system damage was found not to be a contributory factor.