As a measure of patients' rights, the study used each State's compliance with the rights suggested in the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980. Measures of political liberalism were the proportion of the electorate voting for the Democratic candidate for President in 1980, the Democratic composition of the State legislature, and an index of political liberalism constructed from the 1980 National Election Survey. Economic indicators were measured by median family income, percentage of the population receiving aid for families with dependent children, trends in manufacturing employment, and measures of income inequality and redistribution. Social indicators pertained to crime, social well-being, and 'stress' at the State level. Indicators of mental health epidemiology measured changes in patterns of mental health services. The only significant predictor of variations in patient rights was the extent to which each State followed the typical time path of deinstitutionalization during 1955-75. The more rapidly a State deinstitutionalized its mental patients, the more likely it was to provide patients' rights. 2 tables, 1 figure, 22 references.