Classification of severe school attendance problems.
Sixty-four children taken to court for failure to attend school were reliably classified into 4 groups, according to whether they exhibited the features of 'school refusal' and/or 'truancy'. About a fifth of them were found to exhibit 'school refusal'; a third showed 'truancy'; less than a sixth exhibited both 'school refusal' and 'truancy' combined; and over a third had the characteristics of neither condition. Differences between these categories were found in manifestations of psychiatric disturbance and in responsiveness to a court adjournment procedure.
D000041:Absenteeism; D002648:Child; D004739:England; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012931:Social Environment