Adaptive Behavior Of Mentally Retarded Children And Parental Rearing, Peer Relations,

Adaptive behavior, also referred to as social competence, is effectiveness of individual adapted to natural and social environment according to his or her age and expectations of the social and cultural conditions. Childhood is the most important period for development of adaptive behavior. Many researches showed that parenting styles and peer relationships had great influence on development of social competence for normal children. But as for children with mental retardation, this may be a different case. For this reason, this research explores the status of adaptive behavior, parenting styles and peer relationships of children with mild mental retardation aged from 12 to 15 years by the way of questionnaire investigation, and the main results and conclusions are as follows:1. Children with mild mental retardation differ obviously with normal children in terms of adaptive behavior, parenting styles and peer relationships. Their performance on adaptive behavior and peer relationships are worse than normal children, and receive more negative parenting styles.2. Even for children with same degree of mental retardation, different educating situation have different results. Students who learn in regular classroom show better degree on adaptive behavior and peer relationships than ones in special school, and receive less negative parenting styles.3. There are some relations between parenting styles, peer relationships and adaptive behavior. Parental warmth and understanding, acceptance by peers are positively related to adaptive behavior of children with mild mental retardation, while parental penalty and strictness, rejection and denying, afraid and inferiority in communication are negatively related to adaptive behavior.4. Parenting styles and peer relationships can predict the adaptive behavior of. children with mild mental retardation. Acceptance by peers, parental warmth and understanding can positively predict the children's ability of communication and socialization. Afraid and inferiority in communication can negatively predict the ability of locomotion and occupation. Maternal warmth and understanding can positively predict the ability of self-help. Maternal rejection and denying can negatively predict the ability of self-direction.5. Parenting styles have direct and indirect predictive effect on children's adaptive behavior. Acceptance by peers is the mediator between parental warmth and understanding, parental penalty and strictness, parental rejection and denying and children's ability of communication and socialization. Afraid and inferiority in communication is the mediator between parental warmth and understanding, parental penalty and strictness, parental rejection and denying and children's ability of locomotion and occupation.