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School refusal, truancy, and adult neurotic illness1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Peter Tyrer  and
Stephen Tyrer
Peter Tyrer
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, London, and Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds
Stephen Tyrer
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, London, and Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds
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Sysnopsis

Two hundred and forty adult psychiatric patients, comprising 60 phobic, 60 anxious, and 120 depressed patients, were interviewed about problems of school attendance during their childhood. Using a specially designed questionnaire, non-attendance due to school refusal was swparated from that due to truancy. A control population of 120 orthopaedic and dental patients, matched for age and sex with the psychiatric sample, was also interviewed. It was found that school refusal had occurred significantly more often among the psychiatric patients than among the controls (P < 0·05). The incidence of truancy was similar in both groups. Both school refusal and truancy had occurred more frequently in female than in male patients. The results suggest that, contrary to some studies, there is a link between childhood and adult neurotic disorders and that some children who present with problems of school refusal are at risk in adult life.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , November 1974 , pp. 416 - 421
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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