title: The relationship between challenging behaviours, mood and interest/pleasure in adults with severe and profound intellectual disabilities.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We investigated whether current mood and interest/pleasure ratings in adults with moderate to profound intellectual disabilities were predictive of challenging behaviour [self-injurious behaviour (SIB), aggressive/destructive behaviour and stereotypic behaviour] and vice versa.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this combined cross-sectional and longitudinal study, staff members of a Hungarian residential facility completed translated versions of the Behaviour Problems Inventory-Short Form (BPI-S), the Challenging Behaviour Interview (CBI) and the Mood, Interest and Pleasure Questionnaire-Short Form (MIPQ-S) for 50 participants at two time points, approximately 4 to 5 months apart.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bivariate correlations from data concurrently assessed at Time-1 showed significant linear relationships between the SIB (both frequency and severity scores) and Interest/Pleasure sub-scales, and the Aggressive/Destructive Behaviour (severity scores) and the MIPQ-S Mood sub-scales (unadjusted for multiple correlations). All of these effects were found with the BPI-S data, but not with the CBI. Multiple regression analyses revealed that (1) low interest/pleasure assessed at Time-1 predicted high SIB (frequency and severity) at Time-2. (2) Interest/pleasure was not predictive of aggressive or stereotypic behaviour. (3) Mood at Time-1 did not predict any of the three types of behaviour problems at Time-2. (4) In reverse, high SIB (frequency and severity) at Time-1 predicted low interest/pleasure ratings at Time-2. (5) Surprisingly, frequent aggressive/destructive behaviour predicted high interest/pleasure. (6) Stereotypic behaviour scores at Time-1 did not predict interest/pleasure ratings at Time-2. Again, all of these effects were only found with the BPI-S data, but not with the CBI. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Hungarian versions of all three questionnaires had generally satisfactory outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The fact that increasingly frequent and severe SIB was predicted by declining measures of interest/pleasure is consistent with previous studies. Contrary to those earlier studies, however, we found that SIB was not predicted by mood and that aggressive/destructive behaviour actually predicted future elevated mood. Implications for future research regarding the directional relationship between affective states such as mood and interest and pleasure, on the one hand, and challenging behaviour, on the other, were discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.affiliation: T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Visconti
authors.affiliation: Special Needs Education, ELTE University of Science, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Csorba
authors.affiliation: Special Needs Education, ELTE University of Science, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Radvanyi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rojahn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057181:Pleasure / Q000502:physiology*; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019956:Stereotypic Movement Disorder / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: challenging behaviour; interest; mood; pleasure