Behavior disorders and mental retardation: associations with age, sex, and level of functioning in an outpatient clinic sample.

A survey of 130 mentally retarded children and adults referred to an outpatient mental health clinic is reported. Three categories of behavior problems accounted for a majority of the referrals: schizoid-unresponsive and psychotic disorders, conduct disorder, and anxious-depressed withdrawal disorder. The distribution of referrals among the three categories was examined as a function of level of intellectual functioning, age, and client sex. Comparisons are made with previous surveys of mentally retarded and of nonretarded clinic populations. The implications of the survey results for planning mental health services with mentally retarded individuals are discussed.