Protective effects of the label "mentally retarded" on children's attitudes toward mentally retarded peers.

The protective effect of the label "mentally retarded" was tested to determine whether the label could help ameliorate the negative attitudes children have toward mentally retarded peers who exhibit poor social behavior. Nonretarded fourth through sixth graders (n = 126) viewed a videotape of a mildly retarded target child reading. The target was either labeled or not labeled "mentally retarded" and was depicted as either socially withdrawn or aggressive. Assessment of children's attitudes indicated that the label had a protective effect when the retarded child was withdrawn but only a very weak effect when the child was aggressive. This suggests a limit to the protective effect of the label. Results reaffirmed the necessity of examining labels in combination with child characteristics in order to understand more fully the effects of labels.