Two Mildly Retarded Samples: A 20-Year Follow-Up

描述(由申请人提供)：本修订意见书的总体目标是使用生命过程发展的观点，对中年时期的轻度智力障碍成年人进行民族志调查。参与者将来自洛杉矶地区的低收入和工薪阶层非裔美国人以及工薪阶层和中产阶级白人的样本，我们的研究小组最初是在1978年对他们进行研究的。大约三分之二的幸存者将在2002年年龄在41岁到59岁之间，他们是这次调查的重点。由于两个样本中种族和阶级的混淆，没有提出对这两个维度的比较。相反，我们计划检查和比较每组内以及较早和较晚研究阶段之间的适应行为。这项研究有四个具体目标：1.检查被标记为轻度智力障碍的非洲裔美国人和白人中年成年人如何描述和评估生活质量；2.检查被标记为轻度智力障碍的非裔美国人和白人中年成年人的生活质量与社会文化方面的发展相关；3.从标准发展标记物的角度描述同一样本成年人的发展路径--特别是社会关系、家庭形成、教育和工作经历、危机管理和更广泛的适应；4.以相同的样本检查在整个生命过程中获得和使用社会服务的途径。使用人种学方法，我们计划采访和观察139人中的30名非裔美国人和30名白人参与者，这些人参与了我们早期对轻度精神发育迟滞成年人的适应研究。调查领域将包括生活质量、发展标志和过渡、社会支持网络、生活目标、健康和服务使用。可采用的分析策略包括民族志内容分析(Crabtree&Miller，1992)、顺序分析和共识分析。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall objective of this revised submission is to conduct an ethnographic investigation of mildly mentally retarded adults during their mid-life years using a life-course developmental perspective. The participants will be derived from samples of low-income and working class African-Americans and working and middle-class Whites in the Los Angeles area who were initially studied by our research group in 1978. The approximately two-thirds of the survivors who will be age 41 through 59 in the year 2002 are the focus of this investigation. Due to the confounding of race and class in the two samples, no comparisons on such dimensions are proposed. Rather, we plan to examine and compare adaptive behavior within each group and between the earlier and later study periods. The study has four specific aims: 1. To examine how quality of life is described and assessed by African-American and White mid-life adults labeled as mildly mentally retarded; 2. To examine quality of life as related to sociocultural aspects of development among African-American and White mid-life adults labeled as mildly mentally retarded; 3. To describe developmental pathways in the same samples of adults in terms of normative developmental markers--in particular, social relationships, family formation, educational and work experiences, crisis management and adaptation more generally; 4. To examine in the same samples access to and use of social services across the life course. Using ethnographic methods, we plan to interview and observe 30 African-American and 30 White participants of the 139 people who participated in our earlier study of the adaptation of mildly mentally retarded adults. Domains of inquiry will include quality of life, developmental markers and transitions, social support networks, life goals, health, and service usage. Among the analytic strategies to be employed are ethnographic content analysis (Crabtree & Miller, 1992), sequential analysis, and consensus analysis.