Causes of behaviour problems

Abstract Behaviour can be considered the ‘final common pathway’ for one or more simultaneous causal processes. In addition to the direct consequences of cause of disability (e.g. food-related behaviours in Prader–Willi syndrome), behaviour is influenced by indirect consequences (e.g. anxiety and anger arising from mismatch between capacity and expectations) and factors that impact all children (e.g. bullying, stress at home). This chapter addresses the multiple possible contributing causes to problem behaviour. These are organized as those specific to the child, and those arising from the child’s world. A parallel approach is to consider causes of behaviour problems as biological, psychological and social.