title: Borderline intellectual functioning is associated with poor social functioning, increased rates of psychiatric diagnosis and drug use--a cross sectional population based study.
abstract: Borderline intellectual functioning is defined by the DSM IV as an IQ range that is between one to two standard deviations below the mean (71<IQ<84), and a considerable percentage of the population is included in this definition (approximately 13.5%). The few studies performed on this group indicate that borderline intellectual functioning is associated with various mental disorders, problems in everyday functioning, social disability and poor academic or occupational achievement. Using data from the Israeli military, we retrieved the social and clinical characteristics of 76,962 adolescents with borderline intellectual functioning and compared their social functioning, psychiatric diagnoses and drug abuse with those of 96,580 adolescents with average IQ (± 0.25 SD from population mean). The results demonstrated that the borderline intellectual functioning group had higher rates of poor social functioning compared to the control group (OR=1.9, 95% CI=1.85-1.94). Individuals with borderline intellectual functioning were 2.37 times more likely to have a psychiatric diagnosis (95% CI=2.30-2.45) and 1.2 times more likely to use drugs (95% CI=1.07-0.35) than those with average IQ. These results suggest that adolescents with borderline intellectual functioning are more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders, poor social functioning and drug abuse than those with average intelligence, and that borderline intellectual functioning is a marker of vulnerability to these poor outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Karny
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gigi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621, Israel.
authors.forename: Nomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Werbeloff
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621, Israel.
authors.forename: Shira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.affiliation: Division of Mental Health, Medical Corps, IDF, Israel.
authors.forename: Shirly
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Portuguese
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, England, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reichenberg
authors.affiliation: Division of Mental Health, Medical Corps, IDF, Israel.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fruchter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621, Israel; Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: mweiser@netvision.net.il.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weiser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Borderline intellectual functioning; Drug use; Psychiatric diagnosis; Social functioning