Social adaptive skills and psychopathology in adults with intellectual disabilities of non-specific origin and those with Down syndrome.
Psychopathology level, not Down-syndrome status, drives social-adaptive differences in adults with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers built a 28-item social-adaptive skills quiz for adults with ID.
They tested the adults: 55 had Down syndrome and 53 had ID from other causes.
Staff or family filled the form; stats checked if answers hung together and what differed between groups.
What they found
Down-syndrome adults scored higher on social skills and lower on psychopathology.
The gap vanished once psychopathology was counted: fewer mental-health symptoms, not the label "Down syndrome," predicted better social day-to-day behavior.
The new tool showed strong reliability and a clean four-factor structure.
How this fits with other research
Busch et al. (2010) saw the opposite pattern in kids: children with autism scored worse on social skills than matched Down-syndrome peers. The flip makes sense—age and diagnosis mix changed.
Lin et al. (2015) linked early aging signs to poorer daily-living skills in Down-syndrome teens and adults. Together the papers show both mental-health symptoms and physical decline shape adaptive life.
Horovitz et al. (2014) found any Axis-I diagnosis drags down quality of life in mild-moderate ID adults, backing the idea that treating psychopathology should come first.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with ID, screen for anxiety, mood, or behavior disorders before you write social-skills goals. Lowering psychopathology may unlock social gains faster than direct social training. Keep the 28-item tool in your intake packet—it is free, quick, and now validated.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present study aimed to assess the psychometric proprieties of a new social adaptive skills questionnaire and examine the impact of maladaptive behaviour on social functioning in adults with ID of non-specific aetiology and those with Down syndrome. The results of an exploratory factor analysis led to the exclusion of 20 items out of 48 and yielded a four-factor structure. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis conducted on 28 remaining items confirmed a four-factor structure explaining 43% of the total variance. The results computed on the global sample (n = 567) showed a "very good" internal consistency for the global score (.89) for all four factors with a very good fit (.97). Thus, this new assessment tool presented a good conceptual validity for assessing social-adaptive skills in adults with ID. The results also showed that participants with DS (no = 92) exhibited a higher global score of social adaptive skills on three subscales (sociability, social relating and respect for social rules) compared to adults with ID of non-specific aetiology (no = 328), and presented a lower level of psychopathology problems. Although aetiology was significantly related to these group differences even after controlling for level of ID and chronological age, the general level of psychopathology fully mediated these relations. In conclusion, the regression coefficient analyses showed that the general level of psychopathology fully mediated the relationship between aetiology and social adaptive skills. A combined assessment of these dimensions should provide information about their predictive value for social functioning in ID adults and target specific remediation goals.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2019 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2019.01.010