Marriage in a young adult mentally retarded population

Abstract

Marriage was examined in a total population of mentally retarded young adults born in a 5-year period. No one with severe retardation had married. Among the mildly retarded, significantly fewer young people had married by age 22 than in a nonretarded comparison population, and the retarded young people who had married had significantly higher IQs than the remainder of the mildly retarded population. The retarded females had significantly more problems in their marriages than nonretarded comparisons. Nevertheless, the marriages of almost half the mildly retarded young women appeared to be working out well. The retarded young men were not significantly different from nonretarded comparisons. Marriages in which both partners were retarded had many problems.