Child-environment relationships: a cross-cultural study of educable mentally retarded children and their families.

A cross-cultural study was conducted to determine the generality of child-environment relationships in Japanese and American families with educable mentally retarded (EMR) children. A total of 90 families with EMR children in Japan and 93 families with EMR children in America participated. The Henderson Environment Learning and Process Scale, Family Environment Scale, and Home Quality Rating Scale were employed in home interviews and observations. The AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale was used to measure social competency and psychosocial adjustment of the children. The results indicated that the relation between cognitive opportunities at home and the child's social competency appeared similar between the two cultures. However, the relation between the affective aspects of home environment and the child's psychosocial adjustment appeared to differ between the two cultures.