The relationships among facial emotion recognition, social skills, and quality of life.

Forty-six adults with mild or moderate mental retardation living in a large residential facility were administered the socialization domain of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, a subjective measure of quality of life, and a facial emotion recognition test. There were significant differences in accuracy of emotion recognition among specific emotions. However, the only significant correlate of facial emotion recognition was IQ. Possible relationships among facial emotion recognition and basic versus more subtle indices of socialization are explored.