Self-Injurious and Aggressive Behavior in Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities : A Comparison of Adolescents With and Without Autism

Abstract

The present study examined adolescents with intellectual disabilities, in order to explore the prevalence of self-injurious and aggressive behavior in students at special schools who were around the age of puberty. Questionnaires and psychiatric evaluations were employed, and adolescents with autism were compared with those without autism. The prevalence rate was 2.4% for aggressive behavior, and 1.2% for self-injurious behavior for all students. In students with autism, the prevalence of self-injurious behavior including mild cases (23.0%) was significantly higher than that in students without autism (2.4%). The results suggest that aggressive behavior is related to severe mental retardation, while self-injurious behavior tends to be related to autism. The significance of a special school setting and the use of psychiatric evaluations when performing clinical studies of youth with intellectual disabilities are also discussed.