COMPLEX PERSONS, COMPLEX LIVES: LIFE SATISFACTION AND ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT OF MENTALLY RETARDED PERSONS RESIDING IN FAMILY CARE HOMES AND GROUP HOMES

The creation of community based residences for mentally retarded adults is a reflection of major changes in philosophical orientation and the types of residential care seen as most appropriate for those labelled retarded. The research on the success of those retarded individuals in the community has tended to focus on three major categories of criteria: (1) remaining in the community rather than being institutionalized, (2) social indicators such as economic achievement, marital or employment status or (3) changes in overt behavior such as adaptive behavior or job performance while tending to ignore the feelings of those living in the community. The study is concerned with the satisfaction of retarded individuals with their lives in the community and the relationship between satisfaction and individual characteristics and satisfaction and ecological environment. The objectives are: (1) To describe: (a) life satisfaction of individuals residing in family care and group homes including satisfaction with residences, work, leisure, their own performance, and social relations; (b) background characteristics including age, sex, and IQ; (c) ecological enviroment in terms of behavior settings. (2) To examine: (a) the relationship between overall satisfaction with life and various aspects of life; (b) the relationship between individual characteristics and satisfaction with life and various aspects of life; (c) the relationship between ecological environment and satisfaction with life and various aspects of life.;In general, individuals reported being satisfied with their lives, their residences, their work, their leisure activities and looked forward to positives in the future. Lack of autonomy or decision-making power was found to be a source of dissatisfaction. Significant relationships were found between overall satisfaction with life and residential, leisure, and work satisfaction. While age and sex did not appear to be significantly associated with life satisfaction or satisfaction with any aspect of life, those people who have higher IQ's seem to be less satisfied with their lives in general and have lower self image.;It was found that during the week, individuals entered on the average, 12 different behavior settings of eight different types. Forty percent of all time spent in settings was spent in work settings while 30 percent was spent in recreational settings. Nearly two-thirds of all settings entered were those which individuals were required if urged to enter. Nearly 80 percent of the time was spent in settings designed for retarded individuals. This pattern was found to vary during the weekend. A significant positive relationship was found between overall satisfaction with life and amount of time spent in recreational settings. There appears to be a negative correlation between overall life satisfaction and the number of settings individuals are required to enter.;It would appear that while individuals tend to be satisfied with their lives in the community, lack of autonomy or decision-making power is often perceived as a problem by these individuals. While normalization in terms of a varied pattern of the day and the week seems evident, integration is still lacking.;Interviews were conducted with twenty-one clients of a two-county unit of a development center who reside in family care (n = 9) and group homes (n = 12) using the Life Satisfaction Inventory adapted from Seltzer (1978). The methods of the behavior setting survey developed by Roger Barker and his colleagues were used to describe the ecological environment.