Social skill deficiencies associated with depressed mood of mentally retarded adults.

Specific social skill deficiencies associated with depressed mood were identified in a group of 45 mentally retarded adults with mixed or no psychiatric diagnoses. Self-report and informant-rated measures of social skills, social support, and depressed mood were obtained. One set of results replicated previous findings that high levels of depressed mood are associated with poor social skills and low levels of social support. Another set of findings identified 30 social skill deficits associated with depressed mood. We found that the retarded subjects with depressed mood were withdrawn and interacted less with others and that their social interactions were more inappropriate and ineffective. Some instances of antisocial behavior might be motivated by depressed mood.