The Effects of Treatment upon the Relationship between Vocational Interest and Vocational ability of the Educable Mentally Retarded Adolescent

Many studies have indicated that the mildly retarded adolescent may have problems which hinder the appropriate development of realistic career goals. The present study assessed the effects of a prevocational exploratory treatment upon the relationship between vocational interests and vocational ability levels for educable mentally retarded adolescents. A sample of 98 mentally retarded adolescents were randomly assigned to one of three groups, two of which received a prevocational guidance experience. The third group received similar attention with different content. Data were obtained for the effects of treatment upon the relationship between vocational interests and vocational ability. Results indicated a lack of significant differences among experimental groups, but significant pre-post observation differences were observed for the first treatment group. It was concluded that a prevocational exploratory experience for educable mentally retarded adolescents was statistically effective in contributing to a positive change in the relationship between vocational interests and ability.