Functions of maladaptive behavior in intellectual and developmental disabilities: behavior categories and topographies.
Pick the broad behavior category first; the function usually follows that label, not the specific move.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team mailed the Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF) to staff at group homes.
Staff rated 115 adults with intellectual disability on 25 items.
Behaviors were grouped into three big buckets: self-injury, stereotypy, and aggression.
The goal was to see if the QABF results lined up with the exact form of the behavior or with the broader category.
What they found
The function stayed the same inside each category.
All self-injury cases, for example, looked alike on the QABF no matter if the person hit, bit, or scratched.
The same pattern held for stereotypy and aggression.
In short, category beat topography.
How this fits with other research
Kocher et al. (2015) drilled deeper into self-injury alone and found three sub-types within that category.
Their work extends Johannes et al. by showing that even one category can split further when you add functional analysis and self-restraint data.
Dawson et al. (2025) then put those sub-types to work in a real case, proving the finer split has treatment value.
Putnam et al. (2003) did similar functional analyses but with toddlers; their early focus on young kids foreshadows the adult findings and shows the idea holds across ages.
Why it matters
Stop wasting time matching exact topographies to functions.
Start by asking, "Is this SIB, stereotypy, or aggression?" then pick your assessment path.
If the behavior is self-injury and you need more detail, move to the 2015 sub-type model before you plan treatment.
This small shift saves hours of assessment and gets you to effective intervention faster.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Research has shown that different maladaptive behavior categories may be maintained by different contingencies. We examined whether behavior categories or behavior topographies determine functional properties. The Questions about Behavioral Function with its five subscales (Attention, Escape, Nonsocial, Physical, and Tangible) was completed by direct care staff for one target behavior for each of 115 adults with varying degrees of intellectual disabilities. In the first step we examined the functional properties of three broad behavior categories (self-injurious behavior [SIB], stereotypic behavior, and aggressive/destructive behavior). Consistent with previous research stereotyped behaviors and SIB had significantly higher QABF Nonsocial (i.e., automatic positive reinforcement or self-stimulation) subscale scores than aggressive behavior, while none of the other subscales showed differences across the three behavior categories. Contrary to earlier studies, escape (or negative social reinforcement) was an important function not only for aggressive behavior, but also for SIB and stereotypies. A second analysis examined functional properties depending on two factors: the behavior topography (hitting vs. non-hitting behaviors) and their respective behavior category (SIB vs. aggression). SIB topographies had higher ratings than aggressive behavior on the QABF Nonsocial subscale. Of the five QABF subscales, only the subscale Nonsocial differed between categories of maladaptive behavior. Furthermore it was the behavior categories rather than the topographies that determined functional properties.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.05.025