Anti-social behaviour and police contact among 13- to 15-year-old English adolescents with and without mild/moderate intellectual disability.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the rates of anti-social behaviour (ASB) among adolescents with/without mild/moderate intellectual disability (MMID). To estimate whether any differences could be attributable to differences in exposure to extraneous risk factors.

DESIGN

Secondary analysis of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England.

METHODS

Participants with MMID were identified through data linkage with educational records.

RESULTS

Parents of children with MMID were more likely to report police contact, children with MMID were more likely to self-report fighting/public disturbance, shoplifting and graffiti. When controlling for differences in exposure to extraneous risk factors, MMID was associated with increased rates of police contact and self-reported graffiti, no difference in self-reported shoplifting, reduced rates of self-reported fighting/public disturbance and vandalism.

CONCLUSIONS

Differences in the rates of exposure to extraneous risk factors play an important role in accounting for the differences in the prevalence of self-reported ASB among adolescents with and without MMID.