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A study of 33 girls classified as'schizoid' and 32 'schizoid' boys indicates that the girls and boys are similar in their distinguishing features, but the girls do not have an excess of special interest patterns. Schizoid girls and boys commonly have specific development disorders and occurrence of elective mutism. There are interesting similarities between children diagnosed as having 'schizoid' personalities and children classified as having Asperger's Syndrome and this is worth further analysis. Many of the children described as 'schizoid' in childhood followed those patterns in their adult life also.

Child psychiatric records of 33 girls given a diagnosis of 'schizoid' personality in childhood, were compared with records of a control group of other referred girls and with those of 32 pairs of 'schizoid' and control boys. Seventeen 'schizoid' girls were seen again in adult life and compared with 32 'schizoid' boys previously followed up at the same age. The features of 'schizoid' girls in childhood and adult life were very similar to those of the boys. A striking finding, possible due to referral bias, was the high rate of antisocial conduct in 'schizoid' girls, both in childhood and later life. The dilemmas of diagnostic classification of this group of patients are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two groups of schoolchildren were studied from the point of view of visits from the educational welfare service and coming to juvenile court for failure to attend school. One cohort of about 1800 children was looked at over three years from age 14 and another of approximately 1900 was surveyed over two years from the same age. It was found that when school attendance fell below 90 per cent the particular school was an important factor influencing whether a visit by an educational welfare officer (EWO) was attempted. However, there was a very clear relationship between going to court and the severity of the school attendance problem once a visit by an EWO had been attempted. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

School attendance over a period of several weeks was studied in a group of 435 boys and 65 girls convicted of offences in the juvenile courts of a large industrial city in the North of England. Attendance figures for comparison were available from: (1) middle and secondary schools of the city; (2) a particular group of ten schools; and (3) children in the same class as a group of young people taken to court under care proceedings for failure to attend school. Delinquents attended school considerably less than expected. Neither the sex of delinquents nor the types of offence committed by them were related to school attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A retrospective survey of 179 children brought to Juvenile Court because of failure to attend school is described. A hundred and seventeen were dealt with by adjournment whereas the more usual procedure of supervision was only adopted in 36 instances. Interim care orders were used on 53 children who failed to respond satisfactorily to adjournment. Children adjourned, supervised or placed in care were found to be very similar on nine antecedent variables. The adjourned group attended school much more satisfactorily than the supervised group during the six months following first appearance in court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recognition of rehabilitation as a special interest in psychiatry, and its practice by professional teams, raises the need for some uniformity in examining patient outcome. The features required in a scale designed for this purpose are considered and the Morningside Rehabilitation Status Scales, which have been prepared specifically for psychiatric rehabilitation, have their development and use described. They measure the dimensions of dependency, inactivity in occupation and leisure, social integration/isolation, and current symptoms and deviant behaviour. The measures can be expressed as a profile of the dimensions, with the total a measure of overall level of functioning; reliability has been established, and validity assessed. The scales are not difficult to apply when the patients are known to the staff using them. They should be useful to rehabilitation teams for defining the current status of patients, measuring changes produced by rehabilitation programmes, deciding areas where treatment or service deficits may exist which the team should be attempting to remedy, as well as for teaching purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The educational attainment of 100 school-phobic youngsters was compared to that of 100 other psychiatric patients, using the reading quotient as the main measure. Age and IQ were allowed for. RGs were, on average, higher in the school phobic group than in the other subjects, except in a small number of younger children of high IQ. Additional comparisons with another group of psychiatric patients and with the general population,using regression equations, failed to provide any evidence of poor educational attainment in school phobia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates whether mothers of school-phobic children are overprotective, even when their youngsters are of secondary school age. The Self-Administered Dependency Questionnaire was used. An objective method was used to see whether the mothers of school-phobic adolescents were overprotective. Preference scores on the Self- Administered Dependency Questionnaire (S.A.D.Q.) were used. Although measuring maternal attitudes, these scores were concerned with recent events, and were found to be closely related to actual scores which reflected the youngster's dependent behavior. be raised. The findings were consistent with the view that mothers of school-phobic youngsters prefer them to be excessively dependent.

A questionnaire concerned with dependency in the mother-child relationship, and intended for use in child psychiatry, was described. It was administered to mothers of 116 randomly selected junior and secondary school children in the general population, stratified into age, sex, social class and school groupings, in order to investigate its reliability and construct validity as a basis for clinical use. Principal component factor analyses were carried out separately on junior and secondary school children. At least two meaningful dimensions were revealed; a Factor concerned with attachment to mother and a factor more specific to the notion of dependency involving reliance on mother in practical matters. Sex differences of statistical significance were found between factor scores; and separate principal component analyses were referred to for boys and girls in the secondary school group. The calculation of factor scores was made easier by the provision of approximate raw score factor weights. Some evidence for the validity of the questionnaire was provided when a group of school phobic cases was investigated.

The article presents a study on the effect of anti-thyroid treatment on the mental state of mongoloids. It has been assumed that hyperthyroidism impair psychological performance in adults. A series of battery tests were adopted for the study. Results of the tests supported the assumption that hyperthyroidism indeed affects the intelligence levels of the respondents.

The article discusses the investigation concerning the birth order and family size of school-phobic adolescents in Great Britain. The study was conducted to confirm and extend the observation that the youngest in the family tend to have secondary school phobia. The birth order and family size data were obtained from mothers of a hundred school-phobic youngsters through interview. The comparative investigation was also conducted between 91 non-school-phobic admissions and 127 normal secondary school children of similar age. It was realized that school phobics tended to be late in birth order from families with three or more children. The study suggests that the raised maternal age of the school-phobic group may contribute to its etiological importance.