ABSTRACT

Introduction: Challenging behaviors are common in individuals with developmental disabilities and pose significant challenges to their well-being and that of their families and communities.

Method: We explored the occurrence and predictors of self-injurious behavior and aggressive/destructive behavior in 372 Canadian youths (aged 4–20 years) with a moderate to severe intellectual disability (ID), with or without autism. Data were collected through the Great Outcomes for Kids Impacted by Severe Developmental Disabilities (GO4KIDDS) basic survey.

Results: Parent-report survey data indicated that 56% of the sample had displayed aggressive/destructive behavior and 39% self-injurious behavior over the past 2 months. Both behaviors were significantly more common in youths with ID plus autism compared to ID alone. There was an interaction between diagnosis and adaptive behavior in relation to aggressive/destructive behavior. For those with ID alone, lower adaptive functioning was predictive of aggressive/destructive behavior, whereas for those with ID plus autism, higher adaptive functioning was predictive.

Conclusion: Overall, a large proportion of children in the sample were reported to engage in at least one challenging behavior. These findings highlight the importance of differential diagnosis, and an assessment of adaptive function to ascertain the prognosis of challenging behavior. Study limitations and avenues for future research are discussed.

摘要

简介：具有挑战性的行为在发育障碍者中很常见，对他们及其家庭和社区的福祉构成重大挑战。

方法：我们探讨了372名患有中度至重度智力障碍（ID），有或没有自闭症的加拿大年轻人（4至20岁）中自我伤害行为和攻击/破坏行为的发生和预测因素。数据是通过“严重发育障碍儿童的重大成就”（GO4KIDDS）基本调查收集的。

结果：父母报告调查数据表明，在过去2个月中，有56％的样品表现出攻击/破坏行为，有39％的自残行为。与单独使用ID的年轻人相比，在使用ID +自闭症的年轻人中，这两种行为明显更为常见。在诊断和适应性行为之间，与攻击性/破坏性行为之间存在相互作用。对于仅具有ID的患者，较低的适应性功能可预测其侵略性/破坏性行为，而对于具有ID且自闭症的患者，较高的适应性功能可预测。

结论：总体而言，据报告样本中有很大一部分儿童从事至少一种具有挑战性的行为。这些发现凸显了鉴别诊断的重要性，以及对适应性功能的评估以确定挑战性行为的预后的重要性。讨论了研究的局限性和未来研究的途径。