Psychiatric adjustment to leaving school in adolescents with intellectual disability: a pilot study

The negotiation of stressful life cycle transitions may contribute to the higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders amongst people with intellectual disability (ID). It is possible that leaving school at the age of 16 years might place particular psychological demands on adolescents, increasing the risk of psychiatric morbidity at a time when they are vulnerable as a result of losing the links with health services sustained through school attendance. The present pilot study was designed as a prospective cohort study to investigate whether there is an increase of psychiatric morbidity [rated with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and through semi-structured interviews with parents] in adolescents with ID at the time of their transition from school to adult education and services. Although there was a high frequency (eight out of 10 subjects) of reported emotional and behavioural problems prior to transition, there was no increase or decrease in psychiatric morbidity for the group as a whole during the 6 months after leaving school. However, there were marked individual differences in scores on the SDQ, which may be worth investigating in a larger study.