Ten year follow-up of children with school refusal

Objectives: To assess school refusal (school phobia) outcome in adult life. Method: A 10 year follow-up used questionnaires completed by the target group of young adults and their parents and telephone interviews with their parents. Comparison groups were used. Results: Psychiatric disorder was present in 30 % and caseness in a further 20%. Conclusions: There is a need to identify interventions with long lasting effectiveness in this childhood disorder.