A Case of Intellectual Superiority with Personality Handicaps and General Maladjustment
- Author:
Alice J. Rockwell, Ph.D.
Psychologist, Baltimore Mental Hygiene Clinic Martin, aged nine years, was referred to the clinic by his family physician, because of marked maladjustment in school. Just before he was referred, the parents of his classmates had protested against his presence in the class, saying he was such a disturbing influence that the education of the other children was being jeopardized. The probable outcome of the case seemed to be expulsion from school. The history was obtained from the mother, the father, the family physician and the school principal, interviewed separately. In order to understand Martin’s personality difficulty it is necessary to see him in his family setting.
On the paternal side the grandparents were born in Russia, of Jewish parents. The grandfather came to America in 18G3. He made an initial success in the wholesale liquor business, later broken up by a disagreement with his partner. He tried two other business ventures, neither very successful, and continued to work until his death at the age of sixty-eight, of a heart attack, llis wife was also born in llussia. She died at the age of thirty-eight, in childbirth, when Martin’s father was fifteen years old. The father is the oldest of their four children. His two sisters are married and appear normally adjusted. His brother, forty-two, a civil engineer, has a long history of mental disease. His condition is paranoid; he has twice tried to kill his wife and has had many years of hospitalization, but is now paroled and maintaining himself in a distant city. The maternal grandfather, a man of comfortable income, died four years ago of heart failure. The parents of the patient lived in his home, lie was pleasant and friendly; lie loved Martin who, in turn, respected his authority. The grandmother, seventy-one years oi age, has most of her life been in poor health. After her husband’s death, four years ago, she seemed to lose what little energy she possessed and is now a querulous, fault-finding, sickly old woman who spends most of her time in bed. Before the grandfather’s death she was very indulgent toward the child; but of late, with increasing ill health and approaching senility, she has become very antagonistic toward him. She complains of his behavior constantly, and disagrees with her daughter as to proper methods of discipline for him. Each evening she recounts to the father a list of the boy’s crimes for the day. The grandmother is in a somewhat matriarchal position, as Martin and his parents live in her home, maintaining a standard of living which the father’s salary would never permit. She, of course, controls the purse-strings.
A grand-aunt, sixty-eight years old, sister of grandmother, also in poor health, has lived in Martin’s home throughout his life-time. She frequently champions the child, interferes in discipline, and always makes it a point to show him off to visitors.
The boy’s father, fifty-seven years old, is at present a civil engineer, earning a very moderate salary. He did not marry until he was forty-seven years old, and attributes his long bachelorhood to improvidence and thoughtlessness, lie states that he is fond of his wife and happy in his work, but admits freely that his home is an unhappy one. He feels somewhat restricted in his social activities because of the presence of several invalid women in the home, and does not feel free to bring his professional friends there. He admits that the discipline in the home is divided, and that this has bred in the patient defiance for all authority. Martin’s welfare is of primary importance to him, so much so that he cried while talking to the worker about the problem.
Martin’s mother is now fifty-one years old. She had a common school education, and at an early age assumed a great many household duties because of her mother’s poor health. She has never lived away from her parents’ home. During the interview she was nervous and on edge, very protective about giving information concerning the child. She denied Martin’s misconduct and threw all the blame for his present maladjustment 011 the school. It was observed in the clinic that she “nags” the boy constantly. It is reported that she protects him from the father’s attempts at discipline. The father believes that she wants the boy to be a miniature adult in behavior and that if she had her way, he would never play with other children. This year she has been taking him to and from school because of her fear that the other children may hurt him. The mother is considered a nervous person by family and friends, and for this reason worthy of special consideration. She stays in bed many mornings until about ten-thirty. The father spoke of her as a most “opinionated” person, whom 110 one can convince by argument. It lias been his habit to let all suggestions come from her and to agree with her in order to “keep the peace.” Her attitude and personality as seen at the Clinic were neurotic in the extreme. Several observers reported spontaneously that her personality was one of the most irritating encountered there for many a day.
Martin is an only child. The mother was forty-two at the time of his birth; he was born three weeks prematurely and was a high forceps case. There is nothing unusual in his physical developmental history. There was no persistent enuresis, and no auto-erotic habits have developed. He is a sound sleeper, has good appetite, although he does show some food fads. He is afraid of only one thing, electric storms, following the example of the women in his home. He docs not have temper tantrums, and has never shown any sex curiosity, nor to the parent’s knowledge, had any sex experiences. Before his entrance into school, which coincided roughly with the grandfather’s death, the father states that Martin was a docile and obedient child, although he was pampered excessively by everyone except his father. He had, at. this period, excellent table manners and was exhibited with great pride to guests because of his attractive appearance and behavior. Since the death of the grandfather he has become a behavior problem both at home and in school. His behavior is for the most part of the attention-getting type?an aggregation of small annoyances which become cumulatively intolerable to each new teacher as the weeks go by. He talks to other pupils, takes materials from their desks, pokes and shoves other children, spills ink, chews gum and snaps it, makes spit balls, rubs the soles of his shoes on the floor, makes a peculiar noise in his throat, distracts other children by bringing toys to his desk, lie responds to no authority, and the teachers have been unable to improve his behavior with either discipline or kindness. On several occasions lie has stolen things belonging to other children. He has taken money from home, and stolen food from neighboring stores. The mother denies that he has ever stolen from her, but says that he “appropriates” change that he finds around the house.
The school principal is sure that the teachers are not at fault. Martin has had several teachers, and all report the same sort of conduct. They have hoped for improvement as the boy grew older; instead he appears worse than a year ago.
His school work has never been outstanding. His average grades are “moderate” to “good”?never excellent. He skipped one semester of second grade.
Martin was seen at the Clinic in October, 1929. At the time of psychological examination he was friendly and co-operative, very talkative, seizing frequent openings in test situations to bring in relevant general information. He was physically restless, constantly getting up and sitting down. Overhastiness sometimes resulted in initial wrong responses, corrected at once. Work habits were not completely controlled. The boy enjoyed working without direction, but slumped considerably in effort at moments when the examiner appeared not to be giving full attention to his activities. He talked constantly in a loud, strained voice, and laughed a great deal. He was obviously over-stimulated, and showed too much initiative and zest to be a comfortable group member.
On Stanford Binet (full schedule) his chronological age was nine years, his mental age twelve years, eleven months, his Intelligence Quotient 143. He gave superior adult scores on memory span; vocabulary was fourteen years; he passed the fourteen year arithmetical reasoning problems as well as the differences between president and king. At year sixteen he had no difficulty with the enclosed boxes problem. His Binet test was typical of the superior child group surveyed by the author in 1924. On twelve performance tests his median mental age score was eleven years. Median scores on the performance tests ranged from seven to fourteen years, with one test at twelve years, two at thirteen and two at fourteen. On Ilealy Completion II his score was at the median for ten years, the errors being in the field of observation rather than failure to comprehend the situations. On this test his over-hastiness of response militated against success. To summarize the psychological results: Martin showed very superior all-round ability. He was too rapid and uncritical in many first responses?definitely over-stimulated and most immature in his demand for attention. He is underplaced in school for his mental age, but not from the viewpoint of personality and emotional maturity. A physical examination was not made. The psychiatrist reports a fairly developed and nourished boy, notably active physically and mentally. He looked into everything, walked about the room and talked constantly in a loud voice; both talk and general behavior were rather immature and childish. His response to questions about school was quite superficial; he denied any serious school difficulties, was frank about his minor delinquencies, but thought them of little importance.
He reported a fondness for reading, movies, and construction work with his father’s carpenter tools, with a preference especially for the construction work. He plays little with other children but has picked out for special attention, two “bad boys, one four and a half years old, and a boy at school who insists on the patient’s bringing him money. The younger boy is evidently a flagrantly “hardboiled” child from Martin’s description of his behavior. Martin said he believed it was wrong to take things. He admitted taking “a penny or two” from everyone at home except his father. “That,” he said, “isn’t stealing.”
He spoke of the adults in the home very frankly. His father, lie said, works all the time and sometimes Sundays, too. Ilis mother disciplines him mostly for infringement of health rules. His father is more severe, but the boy has more respect for him. His mother he can get around; his grandmother is so weak she “can’t get at” him. The parents promise him many things for good behavior. He told of the grandfather’s giving him $5.00 and dying the next day ol heart failure (he did not see any humor in this juxtaposition of facts). Nothing of a sexual significance was uncovered.
When the patient was leaving, the psychiatrist gave him a slap on the back, which he immediately returned, with interest. This is an excellent illustration of his attitude toward adults in general. At the staff conference on this case, attended by tlie family physician who had referred the boy, it was felt that this child, although superior intellectually, is very immature in personality. His difficulties are not of his own making. He is the only child of middleaged parents, overprotected and spoiled in his early years, now the victim of split discipline in the home and interference of aunt and grandmother. In the home the boy is a veritable bone of contention. The father, the only masculine ideal in the boy’s life, although he does have more respect from the boy than anyone else, has shown himself inadequate to cope with his own home situation. Although he wants nothing more than to be of help to the boy, he fails to be a satisfactory masculine ideal because of his own inadequacy. It was felt by everyone in staff conference that the boy has little chance of improvement in the present home situation. The father felt it impossible to withdraw from the home of these semiinvalid women and set up a separate household with his wife and child. Indeed, in view of the mother’s overprotective and nagging attitude, it is doubtful whether such a move would have solved the problem. The parents would not consent to placing this boy in a foster home.
Children’s Village was recommended by the Clinic. The family, however, preferred to send the boy to a good military school. During the Christmas vacation he came home, and both parents, overjoyed at his improvement, brought him to the Clinic. He was dressed in a natty uniform and beaming with pride. The parents report that they have never seen such a complete change in any individual. He has been thoughtful, kind, and there has been no difficulty at home whatever. He is doing well in his school work. The headmaster has never considered him a problem child. He adapted at once to the school routine. At the Clinic he showed none of the old restlessness. The parents are more than grateful for the Clinic’s recommendation to remove him from the home.
With the family history of a psychosis in one paternal uncle, the neurotic mother and the boy’s own intellectual precocity, the best sort of mental health in childhood seems doubly necessary for this boy, if he is to become a well balanced adult.
The case appears especially interesting in that the boy’s intellectual superiority has not led him to make a better social adjustment, in spite of untoward home conditions. This boy and one or two other very brilliant boys and girls seen at the Clinic recently, also in difficulties, would seem to suggest the relative unimportance of intellectual superiority per sc in social adjustment.
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