Social support of mothers of children with mental retardation.

Utilization of social support and perceptions of family stress of 80 mothers with a child who had mental retardation were examined. Measures of family stress and social support were administered to subjects with a child in one of three normative transition periods. There were no significant differences in family stress scores across the groups. Analysis of variance procedures revealed significant differences in the utilization of intimate support across the age groups. Implications for further research in this area were discussed.