Development of a Leisure Satisfaction Scale for Use with Adolescents and Adults with Mental Retardation: Initial Findings

Investigated the psychometric properties of a structured interview for assessing leisure satisfaction in mentally retarded persons. The Ss were 40 persons (aged 21–66 yrs) with developmental disabilities and a contrast group of 20 college students. Between-item correlations suggested that the interview constituted a unitary scale. The internal-consistency reliability of a scale made of all 33 items was .73. Interrater reliability was 97.35%. Items that did not correlate with the total scale tended to be those associated with general leisure satisfaction, whereas items referring to specific activities tended to correlate with the total scale. Items reflecting specific pursuits made up the best index of overall satisfaction. Only 20% of the retarded Ss said they had enough friends. Dissatisfaction on activity items always resulted from a desire to participate more often.