Contributions of household task involvement and family environment to the competency of developmentally disabled adolescents in vocational and independent living skills

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine whether or not amount of involvement in performance of household tasks in the home, family encouragement of independence and family achievement orientation, are related to level of general vocational competency and level of independent living skills for developmentally disabled adolescents. Twenty-five secondary school students were tested for their level of general vocational competency and for their level of independent living skills. Amount of involvement in performance of household tasks in the home, family encouragement of independence and family achievement orientation were determined by administering two questionnaires to mothers. Result indicated that amount of involvement in performance of household tasks in the home, family encouragement of independence and family achievement orientation did not make significant contributions to level of general vocational competency or level of independent living skills. Discussion centered around factors responsible for the lack of relationships between the independent and dependent variables.