Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:1130-1133
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
Juvenile court versus child guidance referral: psychosocial and parental factors
SS Shanok and DO Lewis
The authors compared the psychiatric symptoms, socioeconomic status, family
structure, family size, and occurrence of treated parental mental illness
in 136 children referred to a juvenile court and 82 children referred to a
child guidance clinic. The prevalence of psychiatric and organic symptoms
and treated parental psychopathology in both groups of children did not
differ significantly. Juvenile court clinic children, however, tended to
come from larger families and to lack a biological mother in the home. The
authors explore explanations for the routing of sick children to the
juvenile court rather than to a treatment facility.
