The purpose of this research was to assess the psychometric properties of the Multifaceted Lifestyle Satisfaction Scale (MLSS), an interview structured primarily for individuals with mental retardation to assess their professed satisfaction with their living arrangements and communities, their personal relationships, their recreation and leisure, their employment, and their degree of self-direction. Reliabilities, assessed as internal consistency coefficients, test-retest correlations, and interrater agreements were above .60 on cross-validation samples. Validity was supported through correlations with caretaker predictions of respondents' satisfactions, but not by the Quality of Life Questionnaire, an objective instrument to index quality of life in four dimensions: lifestyle satisfaction, production, independence, and integration. Regression analyses indicated moderate theory-based correlations between MLSS subscales and other variables. In sum, the MLSS appears to be a reliable and valid scale to measure personal satisfaction through the responses of consumers in areas of living arrangement, friendships, recreation, employment, and self-direction.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prediction of residential independence of special education high school students.

The residential independence of post-secondary students was assessed for the 2,686 interviewees of the National Longitudinal Transition Study who had left United States high schools between 1985 and the time of the questionnaire in 1987. An index of residential placement independence was the dependent variable in a regression analysis that featured 37 community, family, student, and school program characteristics entered as block-wise predictors (i.e., entered in a controlled order). Results showed a total R2 of .443, with missing data, student maladaptive ("problem") behavior, student competence, and family characteristics all contributing significantly to the prediction of post-school residential independence.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Residential independence of former special education high school students: a second look.

The residential independence of postsecondary students was assessed in 5,462 parents or surrogate parents of students with disabilities from the National Longitudinal Transition Study who had left United States high schools between 1985 and the time of the questionnaire in 1990. An index of residential placement independence served as the dependent variable in a hierarchical regression analysis that featured 43 community, family, student, and school program characteristics entered as block-wise predictors (i.e., entered in a controlled order). This analysis produced a multiple R2 of .376: missing data, youths' daily living skills, youths' social skills, youths' maladaptive ("problem") behaviors, and community characteristics all contributed significantly to the prediction of the postschool residential independence of former special education students during the first 5 years after they had left secondary school.

Activities of Daily Living↗