Aggression: A Source of Social Unacceptability of the Person with Intellectual Disability

Aggressive behaviour in people with Intellectual Disability (ID) appears to present with greater frequency comparing to their counterpart without ID. Because of this deficit the ability to learn language processing, judgement & analytical skills and like cognitive skills are impaired in individual with ID which may have indirect effect on their social recognition and thus have a profound negative effect on their self-esteem. Aggression can result from chronic frustration of self-esteem and its chief ingredients – intimacy, success & autonomy. As a vicious cycle, aggressive individuals with ID commonly experience more rejection & social isolation than their non-aggressive counterpart. Though there are studies on aggression of persons with MR but little studies are available which have tried to find out whether this aggression again has any effect on their cognitive and affective components. So, accepting the existing cognitive impairment, the aim of the present study is to see the effect of aggression on cognitive ability & affective quality of the persons with ID. The study was conducted on 8 children & adolescents (N=8, age 6 to 9yrs.and 13 to 16yrs) with ID (matched by level of impairment). They were assessed on the adapted & translated version of CHIA scale and BASIC MR (PART A & B). From the result it is evident that low aggressive individuals show less problem behaviour & their cognitive functioning is better than their high aggressive counterpart. Moreover, high aggressive adolescents show more problem behaviour than their children counterpart. So, it can be assumed that if a proper aggression control training module can be developed & successfully administered to these persons the so-called problem behaviour of the persons with intellectual impairment would be less which may help them to develop their self esteem& paves the way of a better acceptance by the society.