Effects of different living settings on the performance of mentally retarded individuals

Motivation for adult attention and support, wariness, and expectancy of success over a 2-year period were assessed for 58 mentally retarded individuals residing in either large central institutions, regional centers, or group homes. Males were found to be more responsive to social reinforcement than were females in all living settings. Wariness was found to increase over time in the large central institutions, whereas it decreased in the smaller settings. Individuals with greater preinstitutional social deprivation had a lower expectancy of success. In addition, over the 2-year period, the expectancy of success of individuals from high-deprived backgrounds remained low, whereas it increased for individuals from less socially deprived preinstitutional backgrounds.