Relationship of upbringing to later behavior disturbance of mildly mentally retarded young people.

Factors were examined that might explain the higher rate of behavior disturbance found in a population of mildly mentally retarded young adults compared with nonretarded peers. Results showed that neurological impairment, found in one-third of the retarded subjects, was not a factor. Three results supported the explanation that instability of upbringing was responsible for the difference in behavior disturbance: a significant relationship was found between upbringing and behavior disturbance for both retarded and nonretarded subjects; conditions of upbringing were significantly more unstable among the retarded than nonretarded subjects; and when upbringing was held constant for both sets of subjects, no differences were found in behavior disturbance.