Abstract: Children with intellectual disability are more likely to suffer abuse and neglect. Therefore, they are over?represented among children in childcare interventions, particularly in residential childcare. The main goal of this article was to explore the correlates of mental health diseases in a sample of 169 children (6?18 years old) in residential care with intellectual disability compared with a group of 625 children, also in residential care but without disability. Results show that the prevalence of intellectual disability in residential childcare in Spain is about 19%, which is significant due to their special needs. In addition to this disability, they have a higher frequency of clinical problems in the scales of withdrawal?depression, thought problems, attention problems and, above all, social problems than do their peers in residential care. They are also referred more frequently to therapeutic services, in particular to psychiatric intervention and they receive more pharmacological treatments.

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