The Specifics of Deviant Behavior of Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities
Abstract
The article is devoted to the study of the features of deviant behavior in adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Adolescents with intellectual disabilities have their own characteristics of mental and physical development, manifested in a total underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere, as well as in the personal and behavioral sphere. Adolescents with intellectual disabilities, due to their defect, experience certain difficulties in the process of social cognition and establishing relationships with other people. The reasons for social adaptation in intellectual disability are seen in the absence of a suitable course of action in the individual’s experience to solve a problematic situation. The main purpose of the study is to examine the peculiarities of deviant behavior in adolescents with intellectual disabilities. To assess the severity of maladaptation in adolescents exhibiting different types of deviant behavior, the “Deviant Behaviour Proneness Test” was used. The results showed that adolescents with mild mental retardation are oriented towards socially conditioned behavior – the reaction of grouping adolescents, since this is the norm for this age group and is characterized by the adolescent’s need to belong to a group. Similarly, a situational predisposition to delinquent behavior and a predisposition to self-harming behavior have been identified in adolescents with mild mental retardation.