The identification of psychiatric disorders in children who fail to attend school: a cluster analysis of a non-clinical population

Abstract

Interviews were conducted with parents of 100 children taken to a 'school attendance committee', because of persistent failure to attend school. Clinical assessment of the attendance problem was carried out so that children were categorized as 'school refusers' (N = 24), 'truants' (N = 53), 'both refusers and truants' (N = 9), or as 'neither' (N = 14). Any ICD-9 psychiatric disorder was separately identified. Cluster analysis of information collected in a standard way indicated that there was a group of children with the features of 'school refusal' who often had generalized neurotic disorders as well and who were mostly girls, another group with the features of 'truancy' all of whom had conduct disorders who were mainly boys, and a third cluster of children who were usually 'truants' but less often psychiatrically disturbed. The study provided evidence for the existence of school refusal with and without generalized neurotic disturbance in a non-clinical population.