Medical and social factors of delinquency in children with pervasive neurodevelopmental disorders

Abstract

Recently, a number of delinquencies with children and adolescents increases. Currently, numerous sociopsychological factors of deviant behavior have been  identified. At the same time, modern research of delinquency is also focused on the study of medical prerequisites for the deviant behavior development, such as the presence of mental diseases that cause low intelligence, a tendency to auto-aggression and extra-aggression, emotional insensitivity and asociality. Until now, medical aspects of delinquency have been mainly focused on psychosocial factors and psychiatric nosologies. However, such an important factor as the general somatic health of the child is often not taken into account. Despite the high frequency of somatic morbidity in children with autism spectrum disorders (such as: gastrointestinal functional disorders, allergic diseases, metabolic disorders), the role of psychosomatic factors and comorbid conditions and their association with delinquency is still undetermined. The aim is to determine the structure of delinquency and the importance of psychosomatic factors in the formation of externalizing disorders in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders, which was conducted with the participation of 32 children aged 2 to 11 (7.3±0.5) years. It was established that changes in the cog­nitive (56.2±7.0%) and emotional (62.5±8.6%) spheres prevail in the structure of psycho-behavioral disorders of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. A significant role in the formation of externalizing disorders is played by concomitant somatic pathology, which is characterized by a tendency to process chronification, disturbs the quality of life, and negatively affects emotional and volitional indicators. An integrated assessment of social, psychological, pedagogical and medical factors of delinquency is the key to effective correction and prevention of behavior disorders in children.