Adaptive Behavior in Typical Adolescents: Gender Effect and Socioeconomic Level

Abstract

Adaptive behavior, even if historically associated to the field of intellectual disability, must be investigated in different contexts, since deficits in these abilities limit the independence of individuals and affect their participation in our society. In view of that, this work sought to analyze the adaptive behavior of adolescents with typical development, aiming to investigate if gender and socioeconomic level are influential variables in the presentation of these abilities. Therefore, 84 responsible for boys (n = 43) and girls (n = 41) aged 10 to 19 years responded to Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-II and a socioeconomic data questionnaire. No significant differences were found in the comparison of means and in the classification of scores according to the adolescent’s gender. Regarding socioeconomic level, adolescents with high socioeconomic status were evaluated with significantly higher scores in the “Reading and Writing” subdomain (p = 0.020), and a marginally significant difference was observed in the “Interpersonal Relations” subdomain, with higher scores for adolescents with low socioeconomic status (p = 0.058). A marginally significant negative correlation of small magnitude (r = –0.279; p = 0.070) was verified between the socioeconomic score and the boys’ score in the subdomain “Play and Leisure”. Gender was not a relevant variable to differentiate AC in the studied sample, given that it is possible that the demands for the development of AC in the Brazilian context are similar for both sexes. While differences according to socioeconomic level reinforce the need for the educational system to use strategies to overcome social inequalities in the development of academic skills such as reading and writing.