Background: Previous analyses have found variable results when evaluating the size of the association between intellectual ability and adaptive functioning in individuals with impaired function.
Methods: We assessed the association between intellectual ability measured as a latent higher-order g and three different areas of adaptive functioning in a sample of clinically referred individuals with low IQ.
Results: Regressing g on conceptual, practical and social adaptive functioning yielded standardised regression coefficients of 0.65, 0.60 and 0.51 respectively.
Conclusions: Results suggests that even at low levels of ability, increments in g still have important consequences for human functioning. Further, the influence of g may not be equally strong across different areas of human functioning.
Keywords: behavioural measurement methods; intellectual disability; learning disability; methodology in research.
© 2013 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.