Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Home
Hostname: page-component-ffbbcc459-nq5v5 Total loading time: 0.235 Render date: 2022-03-13T19:34:12.553Z Has data issue: true Feature Flags: { "shouldUseShareProductTool": true, "shouldUseHypothesis": true, "isUnsiloEnabled": true, "useRatesEcommerce": false, "useNewApi": true }
  • English
Psychological Medicine Psychological Medicine

Article contents

Behaviour problems in severely mentally handicapped children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Lyn Quine
Lyn Quine*
Affiliation:
Social Psychology Research Unit, University of Kent, Canterbury
*
1Address for correspondence: Lyn Quine, Social Psychology Research Unit, Beverley Farm, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7LZ.
Get access Rights & Permissions[Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

A population study was undertaken in two health districts of children with severe mental handicap. Prevalence figures for behaviour problems are presented. A stratified random sample of 200 families was drawn from the population. Detailed structured interviews were carried out with the children's parents. The children were divided into two groups comprising those with behaviour problems and those with no problems. There was a significant association between behaviour disorder and incontinence, lack of self-help skills, poor reading, writing and counting skills, and poor communication skills. Environmental correlates were few. There were no differences between groups in family size, birth order, age of parents, marital discord, social class or income. However, behaviour problems were more common in one-parent families. An association was found between maternal stress and problem behaviour. The possible mechanisms underlying this association are discussed

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , November 1986 , pp. 895 - 907
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bebbington, A. & Quine, L. (1986). Evaluating the Malaise Inventory: a confirmatory factor analysis. Social Psychiatry (in the press).Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F. & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive Theory of Depression. Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Butler, A., Houston, J. & McGuire, R. (1984). Mental distress in mothers of young children in Harrogate. Psychological Medicine 14, 391–399.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berkowitz, B. P. & Graziano, A. M. (1972). Training parents as behaviour therapists: a review. Behaviour Research and Therapy 10,297–317.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bidder, R. T., Bryant, G. & Grey, O. P. (1975). Benefits to Down's Syndrome children through training their mothers. Archives of Disabled Children 50, 383–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradshaw, J. (1979). Handicap: bond or burden? One Parent Times 1, 12–14.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J. (1982). Evaluating the Malaise Inventory. Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, DHSS 96 3/82.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. (1978). Social Origins of Depression. Tavistock: London.Google Scholar
Burden, R. L. (1980). Measuring the effects of stress on mothers of handicapped children. Must depression always follow? Child: Care, Health and Development 6, 111–123.Google ScholarPubMed
Callias, M. & Carr, J. (1975). Behaviour modification programmes in a community setting. In Behaviour Modification with the Severely Retarded (ed. Kiernan, C. and Woodford, F. P.), pp. 147–173. Elsevier: Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Carter, G. (1984). Why are the mentally handicapped admitted to hospital? A ten-year survey. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 283288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chazan, M. (1979). Home-based projects. In Young Children with Special Needs (ed. Laing, A. F.). pp. 37–49. University of Swansea: Swansea.Google Scholar
Chetwynd, J. (1985). Factors contributing to stress in mothers caring for an intellectually handicapped child. British Journal of Social Work 15, 295–305.Google Scholar
Clements, J., Bidder, R. T., Gardner, S., Bryant, G. & Grey, O. P. (1980). A home advisory service for pre-school children with developmental delays. Child: Care, Health and Development 6, 25–33.Google ScholarPubMed
Cooke, K., Bradshaw, J., Glendinning, C., Baldwin, S., Lawton, D. & Staden, F. (1982). 1970 Cohort: 10 year Follow-up Study. Interim Report to the DHSS 108/6. 82.Google Scholar
Cunningham, C. & Jeffree, D. M. (1975). The organisation and structure of workshops for parents of mentally handicapped children. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society 28, 405–411.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Social Security (1979). Report of Committee of Inquiry into Mental Handicap Nursing Care (The Jay Report). Cmnd 7468 I and II. HMSO: London.Google Scholar
Emery, R. E. & O'Leary, K. O. (1984). Marital discord and child behaviour problems in a nonclinic sample. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 12, 411–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gath, A. (1978). Down's Syndrome and the Family. Academic Press: London.Google Scholar
Gath, A. (1979). Parents as therapists to mentally handicapped children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 20, 161–165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffiths, R. (1970). The Abilities of Young Children. A Comprehensive System of Mental Measurement for the First Eight Years of Life. Child Development Research Centre: London.Google Scholar
Hirst, M. A. & Bradshaw, J. (1983). Evaluating the Malaise Inventory: a comparison of measures of stress. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 27, 193–199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holmes, N., Shah, A. & Wing, L. (1982). The Disability Assessment Schedule: a brief screening device for use with the mentally retarded. Psychological Medicine 12, 879–890.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kidd, C. B., Innes, G. & Rose, H. S. (1967). The prevalence of mental subnormality in two regions. Some comparisons between north-east Scotland and Northern Ireland. Ulster Medical Journal 36, 139–144.Google ScholarPubMed
Kotler, T. & Hammond, S. (1981). Marital quality and disturbed child behaviour. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 20, 187–198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kushlick, A. & Cox, G. (1968). The ascertained prevalence of mental subnormality in the Wessex region on July 1st, 1963.In Proceedings of the 1st Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Mental Deficiency.Montpelier (ed. Richards, B. W.), pp. 661–663. Michael Jackson: Reigate.Google Scholar
Kushlick, A., Blunden, R. & Cox, G. (1973). The Wessex Social and Physical Incapacity (SPI) Scale and the Speech Self Help and Literacy Scale (SSL). Psychological Medicine 3, 336–378.Google Scholar
Miller, F., Court, S. D. M., Knox, E. G. & Brandon, S. (1974). The School Years in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Office of Population and Census Surveys (1982). General Household Surveys. HMSO: London.Google Scholar
Pahl, J. & Quine, L. (1984). Families with Mentally Handicapped Children: A Study of Stress and of Service Response. Health Services Research Unit: University of Kent at Canterbury.Google Scholar
Philp, M. (1978). Physically handicapped children and their families. Department of Applied Social Studies (unpublished): University of Bradford.Google Scholar
Primrose, D. A. (1971). A survey of 502 successive admissions to a subnormality hospital from January 1st to December 31st, 1970. British Journal of Mental Subnormality 17, 25–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pugh, G. (1981). Parents as Partners. National Children's Bureau: London.Google Scholar
Quine, L. & Pahl, J. (1985). Examining the causes of stress in families with severely mentally handicapped children. British Journal of Social Work 51, 501–517.Google Scholar
Quine, L. & Pahl, J. (1986a). First diagnosis of severe mental handicap: characteristics of unsatisfactory encounters between doctors and parents. Social Science and Medicine 22, 53–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quine, L. & Pahl, J. (1986 b). Parents with severely mentally handicapped children: marriage and the stress of caring. National Marriage Guidance Council Research Series.Google Scholar
Richman, N., Stevenson, J. & Graham, P. J. (1982). Pre-school to School: a Behavioural Study. Academic Press: London.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1974). Epidemiological strategies and psychiatric concepts in research on the vulnerable child. In The Child in his Family, Vol. 3 (ed. Anthony, E. and Koupernik, C.), pp. 167–179. John Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Brown, G. W. (1966). The reliability and validity of measures of family life and relationships in families containing a psychiatric patient. Social Psychiatry 1, 38–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. & Quinton, D. (1984). Parental psychiatric disorder: effects on children. Psychological Medicine 14, 853–880.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M., Graham, P. & Yule, W. (1970 a). A Neuropsychiatric Study in Childhood. Heinemann: London.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Tizard, J. & Whitmore, K. (eds.) (1970 b). Education, Health and Behaviour. Longmans: London.Google Scholar
Shearer, M. S. & Shearer, D. E. (1972). The Portage Project: a model for early childhood education. Exceptional Children 38, 210–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Touliatos, J. (1981). Congruence of parents' and teachers' ratings of children's behaviour problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 9, 347–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkin, D. (1979). Caring for the Mentally Handicapped Child. Croom Helm: London.Google Scholar
Wing, L. (1971). Severely retarded children in a London area: prevalence and provision of services. Psychological Medicine 1, 405–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wing, L. & Gould, J. (1978). Systematic recording of behaviours and skills of retarded and psychotic children. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 8, 79–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
58
Cited by

Send article to Kindle

To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about sending to your Kindle.

Note you can select to send to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be sent to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Behaviour problems in severely mentally handicapped children
Available formats
×

Send article to Dropbox

To send this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your <service> account. Find out more about sending content to Dropbox.

Behaviour problems in severely mentally handicapped children
Available formats
×

Send article to Google Drive

To send this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your <service> account. Find out more about sending content to Google Drive.

Behaviour problems in severely mentally handicapped children
Available formats
×
×

Reply to: Submit a response

Please enter your response.

Your details

Please enter a valid email address.

Conflicting interests

Do you have any conflicting interests? *