Psychosocial correlates of depression in mentally retarded adults: I. Minimal social support and stigmatization.

Two hypotheses were tested in a study with 28 mildly mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed adults and 17 mildly mentally retarded adults for whom an emotional disorder had not been diagnosed: depression is associated with (a) low levels of social support and (b) high levels of perceived stigmatization. Self-report and informant measures of depression, social support, and perceived stigmatization were collected. The self-report and informant measures of the same construct were significantly correlated. Results revealed negative correlations between depression and social support ranging between -.25 and -.76 and positive correlations between depression and perceived stigmatization ranging from .11 to .44. After additional analyses comparing depressed subjects, disturbed/nondepressed subjects, and nondisturbed/nondepressed subjects, the results were interpreted as showing a powerful association between low levels of social support and depression. Convincing evidence of an association between perceived stigmatization and depression was not found.