Behaviour/mental health problems in young adults with intellectual disability: the impact on families.
Behavior and mental health problems in adults with severe ID are the top reason moms feel crushed and consider out-of-home placement.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked moms of young adults with severe intellectual disability about daily life.
They used a short survey to link behavior problems, mom stress, and plans to seek out-of-home placement.
What they found
Moms whose adult children had behavior or mental health problems felt the heaviest negative impact.
Those same moms were also the ones most likely to say they would move their child out of the home.
How this fits with other research
Amore et al. (2011) tracked families for eleven years and showed that when social relating problems in the child grew, maternal depression and anxiety grew too.
Emerson (2003) found the same stress link in a huge UK sample, but added that poverty explains much of the mental-health risk.
Gaynor et al. (2008) later showed that moms who accept difficult thoughts and feelings have lower stress over time, giving a possible buffer against the strain McIntyre et al. (2002) measured.
Schlundt et al. (1999) interviewed parents and heard "family survival" reasons for placement years before this survey proved behavior problems are the strongest driver.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with severe ID, screen for behavior and mental health issues first. Reducing those problems, or teaching moms acceptance skills, may keep families together and cut crisis placements.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The present authors studied the impact of dual diagnosis [i.e. intellectual disability (ID) and mental disorder] in young adults on their mothers' perceived levels of stress and decisions about placement. METHODS: The mothers of 103 young adults with severe ID were interviewed using a 2-3-h in-depth protocol of measures designed to assess their child's adaptive functioning, maladaptive behaviour, mental health problems and negative impact on the family, as well as their own thoughts on out-of-home placement. The Scales of Independent Behavior--Revised Problem Behavior Scale assessed problem behaviours and the Reiss Screen assessed mental disorder. RESULTS: These measures were highly correlated (r = 0.64), but tapped some different domains of maladaptive behaviour and proved to be most predictive when employed together. Behaviour and/or mental health (B/MH) problems significantly predicted the mothers' perceived negative impact of the young adult on the family, even after controlling for other young adult characteristics. These problems also predicted the family's steps toward seeking out-of-home placement, as did better young adult health and the mother's higher educational attainment; stress did not predict additional variance in placement once these variables were accounted for. CONCLUSIONS: The discussion focuses on the implications for service provision to families of young adults with B/MH problems.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2002 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.2002.00371.x