Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:42:47.581Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Absence from School and Mental Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Ian Berg
Ian Berg*
Affiliation:
Clarendon Wing, Leeds General Infirmary, Belmont Grove, Leeds LS2 9NS, and The University of Leeds
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Severe school attendance problems, which once commanded a great deal of attention in child and adolescent psychiatry, have fallen from favour and are increasingly viewed as varieties of social impairment which may accompany disorders such as anxiety disturbances in the case of school refusal and conduct disturbances in the case of truancy. It is argued that this relegation of school attendance difficulties may have gone too far. As presenting complaints, albeit sometimes masked by apparent physical illness, they still have much to recommend them as indicators of a wide variety of present and future problems: educational, social, family, legal, medical, and, last but not least, psychiatric. Prevalence, features, causative factors, outcome, and management are discussed. Particular attention is paid to DSM and ICD classification. Gaps in present knowledge are indicated.

Type
Review Articles
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 161 , Issue 2 , August 1992 , pp. 154 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aitken, M. & Langford, N. (1986) Statistical modelling issues in school effectiveness studies. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A, 149, 1–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Anderson, R., Bailey, P. A., Cooper, J. S., et al (1983) Morbidity and school absence caused by asthma and wheezing illness. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 58, 777–784.Google Scholar
Belson, W. A. (1975) Juvenile Theft: The Causal Factors. London: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Berg, I. (1974) A self-administered dependency questionnaire (SADQ) for use with mothers of school children. British Journal of Psychiatry, 124, 1–9.Google Scholar
Berg, I. (1980) School refusal in early adolescence. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 231–249. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Berg, I. (1984) School refusal. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 32, 59–62.Google Scholar
Berg, I. (1985) Management of school refusal. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 60, 486–488.Google Scholar
Berg, I. (1991) School avoidance, school phobia and truancy. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – A Comprehensive Textbook (ed. Lewis, M.), pp. 1092–1098. Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Nichols, K. & Pritchard, C. (1969) School phobia – its classification and relationship to dependency. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 10, 123–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berg, I., & McGuire, R. (1971) Are school phobic adolescents overdependent? British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 167–168.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Butler, A. & McGuire, R. (1972) Birth order and family size of school phobic adolescents. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 509–514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berg, I., & McGuire, R. (1974) Are mothers of school phobic adolescents overprotective? British Journal of Psychiatry, 124, 10–13.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Hullin, R., Allsop, M., et al (1974a) Bipolar manic-depressive psychosis in early adolescence: a case report. British Journal of Psychiatry, 125, 416–417.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Marks, I., Mcguire, R., et al (1974b) School phobia and agoraphobia. Psychological Medicine, 4, 428–434.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Collins, T., McGuire, R., et al (1975) Educational attainment in adolescent school phobia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 125, 435–438.Google Scholar
Berg, I. & Fielding, D. (1978) An evaluation of hospital in-patient treatment in adolescent school phobia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 500–505.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Consterdine, M., Hullen, R., et al (1978) The effect of two randomly allocated care procedures on truancy. British Journal of Criminology, 18, 232–244.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Butler, A., Fairburn, I., et al (1981) The parents of school phobic adolescents – a preliminary investigation of family life variables. Psychological Medicine, 11, 79–84.Google Scholar
Berg, I. & Jackson, A. (1985) Teenage school refusers grow up: follow-up study of 168 subjects ten years on average after in-patient treatment. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 366–370.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Goodwin, A., Hullin, R., et al (1985) Juvenile delinquency and failure to attend school. Educational Research, 27, 226–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berg, I., Goodwin, A., Hullin, R., et al (1987) School attendance, visits by EWOs and appearances in juvenile courts. Educational Research, 29, 19–26.Google Scholar
Berg, I., Brown, I. & Hullin, R. (1988) Off School in Court – an Experimental and Psychiatric Investigation of Severe School Attendance Problems. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Berney, T., Kolvin, I., Bhate, S. R., et al (1981) School phobia: a therapeutic trial with clomipramine and short-term outcome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 110–118.Google Scholar
Bernstein, G. A. & Garfinkel, B. D. (1986) School phobia: the overlap of affective and anxiety disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25, 235–241.Google Scholar
Bools, C., Foster, J., Brown, I., et al (1990) The identification of psychiatric disorders in children who fail to attend school: a cluster analysis of a non-clinical population. Psychological Medicine, 20, 171–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyson, R. (1974) The need for realism. In Truancy (ed. Turner, B.), pp. 52–62. London: Ward Lock Educational.Google Scholar
Brewer, C. & Lait, J. (1980) Can Social Work Survive? London: Temple Smith.Google Scholar
Broadwin, I. T. (1932) A contribution to the study of truancy. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2, 253–259.Google Scholar
Burns, L. E. & Thorpe, G. L. (1977) Fears and clinical phobias: epidemiological aspects and the national survey of agoraphobics. Journal of International Medical Research, 5 (suppl. 1), 132–139.Google Scholar
Capes, M., Gould, E., & Townsend, M. (1971) Stress in Youth. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chazan, M. (1962) School phobia. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 32, 200–217.Google Scholar
Cherry, N. (1976) Persistent job changing – is it a problem? Journal of Occupational Psychology, 49, 203–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiland, C. & Young, J. G., (eds) (1990) Why Children Reject School: Views from Seven Countries. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, R. (1980) Absconding from residential institutions for young offenders. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 111–136. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Coolidge, J. C. Hahn, P. B. & Peck, A. L. (1957) School phobia: neurotic crisis or way of life? American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 27, 296–306.Google Scholar
De Aldaz, E. G., Granell, E., Fieldman, L., et al (1987) Characteristics of Venezuelan school refusers. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 175, 402–407.Google Scholar
Douglas, J. W. B. & Ross, J. M. (1965) The effects of absence on primary school performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 35, 28–40.Google Scholar
Douglas, J. W. B., Ross, J. M. & Simpson, H. R. (1968) All Our Future. London: Peter Davies.Google Scholar
Farrington, D. P. (1972) Delinquency begins at home. New Society, 21, 495–497.Google Scholar
Farrington, D. P. (1980) Truancy, delinquency, the home and the school. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 49–64. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Farrington, D. P. & West, D. J. (1989) The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development: a long-term follow-up of 411 London males. In Criminality: Personality, Behaviour, Life History (eds Kaiser, G. & Kerner, H. J.), pp. 115–138. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Flakierska, N., Lindstrom, M. & Gillberg, C. (1988) School refusal: a 15–20-year follow-up of 35 Swedish urban children. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 834–837.Google Scholar
Fogelman, K., (ed.) (1976) Britain's Sixteen-Year-Olds. London: National Children's Bureau.Google Scholar
Fogelman, K., (ed.) (1992) The long-term effects of truancy. Association of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Newsletter, 14, 57–61.Google Scholar
Fogelman, K. (ed.) & Richardson, K. (1974) School attendance: some results from the National Child Development Study. In Truancy (ed. Turner, B.), pp. 29–51. London: Ward Lock Educational.Google Scholar
Fogelman, K. (ed.), Tibbenham, A. & Lambert, L. (1980) Absence from school: findings from the National Child Development Study. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 25–48. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Futterman, E. H. & Hoffman, I. (1970) Transient school phobia in a leukaemic child. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 9, 477–494.Google Scholar
Galloway, D. (1980) Problems of assessment and management of persistent absenteeism from school. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 25–48. Chicester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Galloway, D. (1983) Disruptive pupils and effective pastoral care. School Organization, 13, 245–254.Google Scholar
Galloway, D., Martin, R. & Wilcox, B. (1985) Persistent absence from school and exclusion from school: the predictive power of school and community variables. British Educational Research Journal, 11, 51–61.Google Scholar
Gath, D., Cooper, B. & Gattoni, F. (1972) Child guidance and delinquency in a London borough. Psychological Medicine, 2, 185–191.Google Scholar
Gelder, M. G. (1989) Panic disorder: fact or fiction? Psychological Medicine, 19, 277–283.Google Scholar
Gittelman, R. (1986) Anxiety Disorders of Childhood. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Gittelman-Klein, R. & Klein, D. F. (1973) School phobia: diagnostic considerations in the light of imipramine effects. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 156, 199–215.Google Scholar
Gittelman-Klein, R. (1980) Separation anxiety in school refusal and its treatment with drugs. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 303–320. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Graham, J. (1988) Schools, Disruptive Behaviour and Delinquency: A Review of Research. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Gray, G., Smith, A. & Rutter, M. (1980) School attendance and the first year of employment. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 343–370. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Hersov, L. A. (1960) I. Persistent non-attendance at school. II. Refusal to go to school. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1, 130–136, 136–145.Google Scholar
Hersov, L. A. (1980) Hospital inpatient and daypatient treatment of school refusal. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 303–320. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Hersov, L. A. (1985) School refusal. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Modern Approaches (2nd edn) (eds Rutter, M. & Hersov, L.), pp. 382–399. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific.Google Scholar
Hersov, L. A. & Berg, I., (eds) (1980) Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Hill, R., Standen, P. & Tattersfield, A. (1989) Asthma, wheezing and school absence in primary schools. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 64, 246–257.Google Scholar
Hodges, V. (1968) Non-attendance at school. Educational Research, 11, 58–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoshino, Y., Nikkuni, S., Kaneko, M., et al (1987) The application of DSM–III diagnostic criteria to school refusal. Japanese Journal of Psychiatry and Neurology, 41, 1–7.Google Scholar
Hussey, H. R. & Howell, D. C. (1985) Relationships between adult and childhood behaviour disorders. Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa, 10, 114–119.Google Scholar
Institute for the Study and Treatment of Delinquency (1974) Truancy in Glasgow. British Journal of Criminology, 14, 248–255.Google Scholar
Jencks, C., Smith, M., Acland, H., et al (1972) Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effects of Family and Schooling in America. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Johnson, A. M., Falstein, E. I., Szureck, S. A., et al (1941) School phobia. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 11, 702–711.Google Scholar
Jones, A. (1980) The school's view of persistent non-attendance. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 171–188. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Juno, C. G. (1913) A case of neurosis in a child. In Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 4 (eds Read, H., Fordham, M., Adler, G., et al), pp. 204–226. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Kahn, J. H. & Nursten, J. P. (1962) School refusal: a comprehensive view of school phobia and other failures of school attendance. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 32, 707–718.Google Scholar
Kennedy, W. A. (1965) School phobia: rapid treatment of fifty cases. Journal of Abnormal Psychiatry, 70, 285–289.Google Scholar
Klerman, L. V. (1988) School absence – a health perspective. Paediatric Clinics of North America, 35, 1253–1269.Google Scholar
Klopovich, P., Vats, T. S., Butterfield, G., et al (1981) School phobia. Journal of Kansas Medical Society, 82, 125–127.Google Scholar
Kolvin, I., Berney, T. P. & Bhate, S. R. (1984) Classification and diagnosis of depression in school phobia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 347–357.Google Scholar
Kvist, B., Kvist, M. & Rajantic, J. (1990) School absences, school achievements and personality traits of the haemophilic child. Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine, 18, 125–132.Google Scholar
Lansky, S. B., Lowman, J. T., Vats, T., et al (1975) School phobia in children with malignant neoplasms. American Journal of Diseases of Children, 129, 42–46.Google Scholar
Last, C. G., Francis, G., Hersen, M., et al (1987) Separation anxiety and school phobia: a comparison using DSM–III criteria. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 653–657.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. D. (1991) Conduct disorder. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: A Comprehensive Textbook (ed. Lewis, M.), pp. 561–573. Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Lobber, R. & Dishion, T. (1983) Early predictors of male delinquency: a review. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 68–99.Google Scholar
Markey, O. B. (1941) Discussion of school phobia. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 11, 708–711.Google Scholar
May, D. (1975) Truancy, school absenteeism and delinquency. Scottish Educational Studies, 7, 97–107.Google Scholar
Mitchell, S. & Shepherd, M. (1980) Reluctance to go to school. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 7–24. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Mortimore, P., Sammons, P., Ecob, R., et al (1988) School Matters: The Junior Years. Salisbury: Open Books.Google Scholar
Newell, P. (1983) Truancy and care. Where, 186, 20–21.Google Scholar
Newsom, J. & Newsom, E. (1977) Perspectives on School at Seven Years Old. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Nuttall, D., Goldstein, D., Goldstein, H., et al (1989) Differential school effectiveness. International Journal of Educational Research, 13, 769–776.Google Scholar
Partridge, J. M. (1939) Truancy. Journal of Mental Science, 85, 45–81.Google Scholar
Perugi, G., Delits, J. & Soriani, A. (1988) Relationships between panic disorder and separation anxiety with school phobia. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 29, 98–107.Google Scholar
Plowden Report (1967) Children and Their Primary Schools. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Power, M. J., Benn, R. T. & Morris, J. M. (1972) Neighbourhood, school and juveniles before the courts. British Journal of Criminology, 12, 111–132.Google Scholar
Prior, M. & Tonge, B. (1990) Pervasive developmental disorder. In Handbook of Studies in Child Psychiatry (eds Tonge, B., Burrows, G. & Werry, J.), pp. 193–208. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Quay, H. C. (1986) Classification. In Psychological Disorders of Childhood (eds Quay, H. C. & Werry, J. S.) (3rd edn), pp. 1–33. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Quay, H. C. & Werry, J. S., (eds) (1986) Psychological Disorders of Childhood (3rd edn). Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Reynolds, D., Jones, D., St Leger, S., et al (1980) School factors and truancy. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 85–110. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Reynolds, D. & Cuttance, P. (1991) School Effectiveness. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
Robins, L. (1978) Sturdy childhood predictors of adult antisocial behaviour. Replications from longitudinal studies. Psychological Medicine, 8, 611–622.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, A., Rodriguez, M. & Eisenberg, L. (1959) The outcome of school phobia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 540–544.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Tizard, J. & Whitmore, K. (1970) Education, Health and Behaviour. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Graham, P., Chadwick, O., et al (1976) Adolescent turmoil: fact or Action? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17, 35–56.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Maughan, B., Mortimore, P., et al (1979) Fifteen Thousand Hours: Secondary Schools and their Effects on Children. London: Open Books.Google Scholar
Scheerens, J., Bermeulen, C. J. & Pelgrum, W. J. (1989) Generalisability of instructional and school effectiveness indicators across nations. International Journal of Educational Research, 13, 789–799.Google Scholar
Smale, G. G. (1983) Can we afford not to develop social work practice? British Journal of Social Work, 13, 251–264.Google Scholar
Smith, S. L. (1970) School refusal with anxiety: a review of 63 cases. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 15, 257–264.Google Scholar
Sproule, A. (1974) Local authority experiment. In Truancy (ed. Turner, B.), pp. 103–112. London: Ward Lock Educational.Google Scholar
Taylor, E., Schachar, R., Thinley, G., et al (1986) Conduct disorder and hyperactivity. I. Separation of hyperactivity and antisocial conduct in British child psychiatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 760–767.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tibbenham, A. (1977) Housing and truancy. New Society, 39, 501–502.Google Scholar
Tonge, B., Burrows, G. & Werry, J. (1990) Handbook of Studies on Child Psychiatry. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Tyerman, M. (1968) Truancy. London: University of London Press.Google Scholar
Tyrer, P. & Tyrer, S. (1974) School refusal, truancy and adult neurotic illness. Psychological Medicine, 4, 416–421.Google Scholar
Wallace, H., Siffert, R., Deaver, G., et al (1955) The home-bound child. Journal of the American Medical Association, 158, 158–160.Google Scholar
Waller, D. & Eisenberg, L. (1980) School refusal in childhood: a psychiatric paediatric perspective. In Out of School – Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 209–230. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
West, D. & Farrington, D. (1973) Who Becomes Delinquent? London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
West, D. (1977) The Delinquent Way of Life. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1988) Draft of Chapter V. International Classification of Diseases (10th edn, ICD–10). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Yule, W., Hersov, L. & Tresider, J. (1980) Behavioural treatment in school refusal. In Out of School – Modern Perspective in Truancy and School Refusal (eds Hersov, L. & Berg, I.), pp. 267–302. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.