Stereotyped behaviors predicting self-injurious behavior in individuals with intellectual disabilities

We examined the relation between stereotyped behavior and self-injurious behavior (SIB) for 1871 individuals with intellectual disabilities who had a score of >0 on the Behavior Problem Inventory (BPI-01; Rojahn et al., 2001). We report three main findings: First, structural equation modeling techniques (SEM) revealed that the BPI-01stereotyped behavior subscale scores predicted BPI-01 SIB subscale scores. Second, when stereotyped behavior was modeled as a predictor of SIB, mixture-modeling techniques revealed two groups of individuals: one in which stereotyped behavior was a strong, statistically significant predictor of SIB (69% of the sample), and another one in which stereotyped behavior was not a predictor of SIB (31%). Finally, two specific stereotyped behavior topographies (i.e., body rocking and yelling) were identified that significantly predicted five different SIB topographies (i.e., self-biting, head hitting, body hitting, self-pinching, and hair pulling). Results are discussed in terms of future research needed to identify bio-behavioral variables correlated with cases of SIB that can, and cannot, be predicted by the presence of stereotyped behavior.