Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents with and without intellectual disability.
Kids with ID carry much higher odds of conduct, anxiety, ADHD and PDD, so universal screening and trauma-informed plans are essential.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Emerson (2003) ran a large cross-sectional survey.
They compared kids with intellectual disability to same-age peers without ID.
Trained clinicians gave full psychiatric interviews to both groups.
What they found
Children with ID had far more conduct problems, anxiety, ADHD and PDD.
Rates of depression, eating disorders and psychosis were the same in both groups.
The gap was biggest for behavior and attention disorders.
How this fits with other research
Schaaf et al. (2015) pooled later studies and found anxiety in up to 22 percent of youth with ID.
Their review sits inside E’s 2003 map, showing anxiety remains a top concern.
Sperandini et al. (2024) looked only at trauma-exposed teens.
They saw even wider gaps in anxiety and social problems than E found in the general ID group.
The two papers do not clash; Veronica simply zoomed in on a high-risk slice.
Cox et al. (2015) followed E’s sample forward into inpatient care.
They showed that teens with ID improve just as much as peers during hospital stays, even though they stay longer.
Why it matters
If you serve youth with ID, plan for high rates of behavior, anxiety and ADHD.
Screen every child, not just the ones whose caregivers report problems.
Use the admission data from R et al. to reassure teams that inclusive units work.
Add trauma screening after abuse or bullying, because Veronica’s work shows symptoms can spike even higher.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: There have been very few population-based studies of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among children and adolescents with and without intellectual disability (ID). METHODS: Secondary analysis of the 1999 Office for National Statistics survey of the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in Great Britain was performed. This survey collected information on a multistage, stratified, random sample of 10 438 children between 5 and 15 years of age across 475 postcode sectors in England, Scotland and Wales. RESULTS: The prevalence of any diagnosed ICD-10 disorder, conduct disorder, anxiety disorder, hyperkinesis and pervasive developmental disorders were significantly greater among children with ID than among their non-ID peers. There were no statistically significant differences between children with and without ID with regard to the prevalence of depressive disorders, eating disorders or psychosis. Factors associated with an increased risk of psychopathology among children and adolescents with ID included age, gender, social deprivation, family composition, number of potentially stressful life events, the mental health of the child's primary carer, family functioning and child management practices. CONCLUSIONS: Children and adolescents with ID are at significantly increased risk of certain forms of psychiatric disorder. Careful consideration of the social and economic adversity facing such families will be necessary to ensure that support services are responsive to both the needs of child as well as the needs of the family in which they are living.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2003 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.2003.00464.x