The Function of Physical Aggression in People With Severe Forms of Intellectual Disability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59519/mper4014Keywords:
persons with intellectual disabilities, physical aggression, functional analysis of behavior, function of physical aggressionAbstract
Behavioral problems, among which the most extreme is physical aggression, have been the subject of research by many authors. This behavior interferes with the daily functioning of people with intellectual disabilities (ID), making it difficult for them to access treatment, support and significantly increasing the cost of providing support. Although many other types of aggression can be very disturbing, this type of problematic behavior is not only a significant challenge for those who provide daily care to these people, but also affects the physical safety of people working with people with ID and all people who may be in the environment of such an aggressive person. One of the first steps towards solving this problem is to clearly define the function that such behavior has, in order for people to receive adequate treatment. In this paper, from a theoretical point of view, we deal with the most common functions of physical aggression in people with severe forms of ID, as specific differences in the functions of this behavior in relation to the sex of a person belonging to the population affected. In analyzing this problem, we relied on the results of available research published from 1973 to 2014. During the literature review, papers were used from Internet sources, namely the Consortium of Libraries of Serbia for Unified Procurement (KoBSON) and Google Scholar. When searching internet sources, the following keywords were used: Physical Aggression, Intellectual Disability, Function of Physical Aggression. Based on the results of the research included in this paper, we can conclude that physical aggression in people with more severe forms of ID usually has some social functions such as attracting attention and avoiding requests.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Zoran Kovačić, Mediha Arnautalić, Christine Hilcenko (Author)
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