In a follow-up of 407 mentally retarded children first studied in 1959, the study examined contributing influences of parental attitude and child-rearing practices as well as the larger society's socializing practices. Original demographic and attitudinal data were used to predict the functional adjustment of 70 members of the original cohort. Those adults found (on parents' ratings) to be doing much better or much worse than predicted were examined ethnographically. An attempt was made to detect factors that might account for successful or unsuccessful life adjustment. Among observations made of this group were (1) that the mothers were more accurate in assessing and predicting their children's life adjustment than were social agency or institutional personnel; (2) that problems associated with sexuality and physical and mental abuse were quite prominent; and (3) that cultural expectations relating to growth and development as envisioned in mainstream society were in conflict with these persons' individual patterns. The study points out the roles that mothers play in the lives of their retarded children and stresses their need for specific directions for helping those children at each stage in their lives. A six-page list of references is included. Nearly half the document is comparised of 13 appendices that include: Leichman's 1959 Interview Scales, including those pertaining to home environment; sample questions from the Progress Assessment Chart of Social and Personal Development; sample items from the Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI) and the PARI scoring sheet; the 1959 and 1983 standard scores on the 23 scales of the PARI; and seven life histories. (CL)