Psychiatric Disorder in the Young Adolescent: A Follow-Up Study

There is a marked lack of information about the incidence and prevalence of psychiatric disorder amongst adolescents in the general population. This situation contrasts strongly with that in the field of adult psychiatry in which numerous studies have been conducted, and also with that of child psychiatry, in which, at least amongst younger school-age children, our epidemiological knowledge is increasing (Rutter et al. 1970, Shepherd et al. 1971). In the adolescent age group there are studies of suicide and suicidal attempts, ofadmission rates to psychiatric beds (Henderson et al. 1971) and of selected groups of supposedly healthy subjects (Offer et al. 1970), but survey information of a type likely to yield knowledge suitable for the planning of services is not available. Such knowledge is particularly necessary at a time when adolescent psychiatric services are expanding and when the subject of adolescent psychiatry is becoming identified, rightly or wrongly, as a specialty in its own right. The present study, of which this is a preliminary report, aims to provide epidemiological information about psychiatric disorder in a total population of 14-15-year-olds living in an area of small towns. It also aims to determine how far disorders at 10-11 years persist into adolescence.