School refusal, truancy, and adult neurotic illness

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.