The Relationship of Adaptive and Maladaptive Behaviour to Social Outcomes for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

The purpose of this study is to examine social outcomes including social interaction opportunities and self-expression, and how they relate to other quality of life indicators. These indicators include the overall assessment of adaptive skills, and the frequency and severity of challenging behaviour. The social interaction opportunities measured in this research include family contact, hours of habilitation, community outings, hours of employment and hours of education. Self-expression refers to the extent to which the individuals assessed indicated liking and choosing what they do in their everyday lives. The data utilised in this study were obtained from personal interviews from 3781 individuals with developmental disabilities and their caregivers. Interviewers received extensive training prior to conducting the assessments. The results indicate that people with higher adaptive ability had more contact with their families, received fewer hours of habilitation, were reported to participate in community outings more frequently, worked more hours and spent fewer hours in education. These significant correlations, however, were of marginal strength. Overall, the frequency and severity of challenging behaviour were not associated with the social interaction opportunities assessed in this study.