Page 40 - Social networks of people with mild intellectual disabilities: characteristics and interventions

Chapter 2
Almost 60% of the partners/children and neighbours had an ID while some 25% of the colleagues and friends had an ID. The percentage of parents, brothers/sisters, other family members and other acquaintances with an ID was lower. The percentage of network members with no ID was significantly higher for the family than for acquaintances, t(27) = 2.749, p = .011. With respect to accessibility of the network member, family members lived less often in the same town as the participant when compared to acquaintances, t(27) = -3.937, p = .001.
Length of the relationships
Here we describe the length of the contacts with partners; with friends, colleagues, neighbours and other acquaintances; and with professionals. The participants knew their partners for an average of 5.42 years (range of 4 months to 14 years). They knew their friends for an average of 6.85 years (range of 0.63–20.67 years), their neighbours for an average of 5.71 years (range of 1–16 years) and the other acquaintances in their social networks for an average of 6.12 years (range of 1.86–27.00 years). The length of the relationships with both colleagues and professionals was less long, with means of 3.23 and 3.19 years, respectively. Despite the relatively short duration of the contact with colleagues, the participants knew their acquaintances significantly longer than the professionals, t(25) = 2.154, p = .041.
Origin of the relationships
In this section, the origins of the contacts with the subgroups of partners, friends and other acquaintances are described. The responses of the participants to the open questions posed during the interviews showed school/work to be the main origin of the relationship with the partner (29.41%), followed by internet (23.53%) and casual outdoor encounters such as going out, festival attendance and simply hanging around on the street (17.65%). Participants also met their friends most frequently at school or work (28.02%) but also via other people (18.47%), in the neighbourhood (17.95%) or at a sports club or some other club (12.06%). The origin of the relationships with the other acquaintances in the social networks of the participants was another person for 47.47% of the relationships. In 18.41% of the relationships, the origin was a casual outdoor encounter. In 12.89%, the origin was the neighbourhood. And in 9.62%, the origin was a sports club or some other club.
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