Students' and teachers' perceptions of aggressive behaviour in adolescents with intellectual disability and typically developing adolescents.
Collect both student and teacher reports when you assess aggression in teens with ID; students usually rate themselves higher.
01Research in Context
What this study did
A Serbian team asked teens and their teachers to rate the teens' aggression.
The sample mixed students with intellectual disability and typically developing peers.
Everyone filled out the same two short questionnaires on reactive and proactive aggression.
What they found
Students said they were more aggressive than teachers noticed.
Reactive aggression (lashing out when upset) was reported far more than proactive (planned) aggression.
Among students with ID, boys and girls scored alike and age did not matter.
In the neurotypical group, boys scored higher and older teens scored lower.
How this fits with other research
Davies et al. (2014) warn us not to treat aggression as a sign of depression in clients with ID. Their review says the evidence is too thin.
van Cappellen et al. (2023) go deeper. They show that what a child believes about aggression shapes how teachers later rate the behavior. Their model adds a cognitive step the Serbian survey did not test.
Edgin et al. (2017) used the same Serbian survey style with similar teens. They found social anxiety, not aggression, and still saw self-report bias. Together the two papers flag a trend: teens with ID may over-report their own problems.
Why it matters
When you assess aggression, collect both teacher and student data. Expect the student to score higher.
Do not assume the gap means lying; it may reflect different contexts or poor self-monitoring.
Use the dual view to pick targets for intervention and to show change after treatment.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study investigated aggressive behaviour in Serbian adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) compared to typically developing peers. The sample consisted of both male and female adolescents aged 12-18 years. One hundred of the adolescents had ID, and 348 adolescents did not have ID. The adolescents were asked to complete the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), and their teachers provided ratings of aggression for the adolescents using the Children's Scale of Hostility and Aggression: Reactive-Proactive (C-SHARP). Results indicated that adolescents reported a higher prevalence of aggressive behaviour than their teachers. Reactive aggression was more prevalent than proactive aggression in both subsamples. In the subsample of adolescents with ID, there were no sex or age differences for aggression. However, in the normative subsample, boys and older adolescents scored significantly higher on aggression. According to adolescent self-reports the prevalence of aggression was higher in adolescents without ID, while teachers perceived aggressive behaviour to be more prevalent in adolescents with ID. Scientific and practical implications are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.07.035