Perceived Social Support and Mental Retardation: A Social-Cognitive Approach

Adults with mental retardation tend to have difficulty accurately interpreting social situations as well as the emotions of others. Predictions from a social-cognitive model of perceived social support were tested with 50 adults with mild mental retardation. Videotaped scenes portraying three levels of support were presented. The ratings of support perceptions provided by adults with mental retardation were contrasted with those of 40 staff working in the field of mental retardation and 22 community members. As hypothesized, social support and loneliness predicted perceptions of support of individuals with mental retardation, after controlling for depressed mood and receptive language ability. Individuals with mental retardation rated the videotaped interactions as more supportive than did staff and community members. This is the first study to address the contribution of cognitive level to perceived social support. Findings suggest that for those individuals with cognitive deficits, as with other groups, one's interpretations of social support are based in part on one's prior conceptions about social support.