Social Status and Child Psychiatric Practice: The Influence of the Clinician's Socioeconomic Origin
SAUL I. HARRISON M.D.1,
JOHN F. McDERMOTT JR. M.D.2,
JULES SCHRAGER M.S.W.3, , and
EARL R. SHOWERMAN M.D.4
1 Professor of psychiatry and director of training at Children's Psychiatric Hospital, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104
2 Professor and chairman, department of psychiatry, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
3 Assistant professor and director of social work, University of Michigan Medical Center
4 Intern at Harborview Center, Seattle, Wash.
The authors report on an investigation into the influences of class background on the diagnoses, clinical perceptions, prognoses, and recommendations for treatment of two groups of child psychiatrists: those who were born into the upper middle class and those whose childhood was spent in the lower class or lower middle class. The differences found in this study point up the need for clinical training to draw the psychiatrist's attention to understanding the role his social background may play in his interaction with his patients.
