Maladjusted children tend to use violence as a natural form of expression and thus are difficult to integrate into many social settings. Managing them, even within specialized institutions, raises challenges of the appropriate level of constraint and sanction.
In the USA in 1971, 3% of USA school children were hyperactive according to the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In 1974, official estimates put the number at 15%. In 1978, 1.7%-1.8% of school children in the USA were receiving drugs to control 'hyperactivity'. In the UK, there were 600 'maladjusted' children in 1950; 8,000 'maladjusted' children in 1966; 20,000 'maladjusted' children in 1976; and in 1978, 16,000 to 18,000 school children were receiving drugs to control 'hyperactivity'.