精神発達遅滞児の問題行動に関する研究

Abstract

A prospective study of the relationship between behavior problems of mentally retarded children and risk factors was conducted to fully understand the problems from the viewpoint of child development and establish objective parameters for medical intervention. Subjects were a total of 84 children : 57 males and 27 females, aged 6-18 years. They belonged to a school for mentally retarded children in Nara Prefecture where the author serves as school physician. The study was comprised of questionnaires, given to all pupils once a year from 1991 till 1993, behavior observation and structured interviews with parents when possible, institu- tion staff, or class teachers. Behavior problems, their courses, and the factors which were thought to affect them were evaluated and statistically analyzed (multivariate analysis). As a result, it was revealed that: (1) EEG abnormality, epilepsy, autism, personality, language delay, mother's personality, developmental quotient (DQ), intelligent quotient (IQ) and social quotient (SQ) significantly affected some behavior problems ; (2) most behavior problems in daily life were associated with DQ and decreased with aging : (3) enuresis, hyperkinesis, difficulty in concentrating and self-injurious behavior were associat- ed with biological factors such as epilepsy and personality, and increased in puberty ; (4) obsessive behavior was associated with environmental factors such as separation from mother and mother's personality. It was suggested that further study, especially about evaluation of mentally retarded children's cognitive ability, is needed.