Effects of types of institutionalization on responsiveness to social reinforcement, wariness, and outerdirectedness among low-MA residents.

The ways in which institutional factors and psychological characteristics of residents interact to determine the behavioral effects of institutionalization were investigated. Two large and five small institutions were rated on resident management practices, aide attitudes, and demographic variables, such as size and cost per resident. Resident variables included preinstitutional deprivation, CA, MA, IQ, and length of institutionalization. The institution and resident variables were used in an attempt to predict three aspects of behavior: responsiveness to social reinforcement, wariness, and outerdirectedness. Of the predictor variables, only MA was related to all three. As in earlier research, institutional variables were not predictive of the behaviors examined.