Self-determination, social abilities and the quality of life of people with intellectual disability.
Adults with ID who get more daily choices and stronger social skills feel more in charge and enjoy life more.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kleinert et al. (2007) asked adults with intellectual disability about choice, friends, and happiness. They compared people living in large state homes with those in small day centers. Staff also rated each person's IQ and social skills.
What they found
Adults who had more daily choices and stronger social skills said they felt more in charge of their lives. They also reported higher quality of life. Day-center residents scored higher on self-determination than those in big institutions.
How this fits with other research
Andrews et al. (2024) looked at teens with mild ID and found the same link: more self-determination meant better life quality. Their data push IQ to the back seat and put choice skills in the driver’s seat.
Weiss et al. (2001) surveyed community homes years earlier and saw few real choices. That backdrop makes the 2007 day-center edge believable—setting matters.
Houseworth et al. (2018) widened the lens. They showed state cost of living and local independent-living rates predict how much choice adults with ID get. So client ability is only part of the story; where they live counts too.
Why it matters
Your support plans can double as choice-building plans. Add small daily menus—pick the T-shirt, pick the snack, pick the music. Track social-skills targets that open doors to friendships, not just compliance. If you consult on housing, weigh day-center or supported-living options over large facilities when possible. More choices today can mean higher life satisfaction tomorrow.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The international literature has documented that self-determination is impacted by environmental factors, including living or work settings; and by intraindividual factors, including intelligence level, age, gender, social skills and adaptive behaviour. In addition, self-determination has been correlated with improved quality of life (QoL). This study sought to contribute to the growing literature base in this area by examining the relationship among and between personal characteristics, self-determination, social abilities and the environmental living situations of people with intellectual disabilities (ID). METHODS: The study involved 141 people with ID residing in Italy. Healthcare professionals and social workers who had known participants for at least 1 year completed measures of self-determination, QoL and social skills. Analysis of variance was conducted to verify whether different levels of intellectual impairment were associated with different degrees of the dependent variables. The Pearson product-moment correlation was used to examine any relationships among dependent variables and IQ scores. Finally, discriminant function analysis was used to examine the degree to which IQ score, age, self-determination and social abilities predicted membership in groups that were formed based on living arrangement, and on QoL status (high vs. low). RESULTS: The anova determined, as expected, that participants with more severe ID showed the lowest levels of self-determination, QoL and social abilities. Discriminant function analysis showed that (a) individuals attending day centres were distinguished from those living in institutions in that they were younger and showed greater autonomy of choice and self-determination in their daily activities; (b) basic social skills and IQ score predicted membership in the high or low QoL groups; and (c) the IQ score predicted membership in the high or low self-determination groups. A manova conducted to examine gender- and age-level differences on self-determination found gender differences; women had higher self-determination scores than men. CONCLUSIONS: These findings contribute to an emerging knowledge base pertaining to the role of intraindividual and environmental factors in self-determination and QoL. In general, the study replicated findings pertaining to the relative contribution of intelligence to self-determination and QoL, added information about the potential contribution of social abilities, and pointed to the potentially important role of opportunities to make choices as a particularly important aspect of becoming more self-determined, at least in the context of residential settings.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2007 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2006.00939.x