INFANTILISM. — A particular condition of the individual characterized by the persistence of infantile development and characteristics at an age already beyond puberty; this with regard to stature and weight, and especially to the deficient development of the primary sexual characteristics and the more or less complete absence of the secondary ones. The picture of bodily and sexual i. may be accompanied by that of the psychic form, with an intelligence markedly inferior to that proper to the subject’s age.
Different forms of i. exist in relation to the producing cause; very often this is connected with deficient function of a single gland or group of glands with internal secretion (pituitary, thyroid, adrenals, pancreas), or with congenital or prematurely acquired heart disease. A particular form is mongoloid i., probably connected with defects in cerebral development (v. FRENESIA) together with multiple-gland endocrine dysfunctions.
I. should not be confused with dwarfism, in which the individual, while displaying infantile physical proportions in adulthood, possesses normal, and sometimes even exaggerated, sexual and intellectual development, thus appearing not as a child or boy, but as a man in miniature.
The degrees of i. differ according to the level at which the individual’s development has come to a halt; thus one speaks of i. in the strict sense, or of puerilism, or of persistent prepuberism.
Some forms of i. may respond to treatment, depending on the cause to which they are linked and the actual age attained by the subject at the time of observation; in particular, forms connected with thyroid deficiency are amenable to treatment and improvement.
The psychic i., from the educational standpoint, should be treated and may benefit from the particular methods used for the mentally handicapped (v.); from the moral standpoint, they should be considered capable of responsibility corresponding to their ability to understand and exercise free will, assessed according to the level of their apparent age.