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A Comparison Study of Psychiatric and Behavior Disorders and Cognitive Ability Among Homeless and Housed Children

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Abstract

This study examined the association of homelessness and related factors with child psychiatric and behavior disorders (diagnosed with structured diagnostic interviews) and child cognitive ability (on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test) in a randomly selected sample of 157 homeless children and their mothers and a comparison of 61 housed children and their mothers. Homeless children had more disruptive behavior disorders and lower cognitive scores than housed children. In multivariate analyses, maternal verbal scores and child nonverbal scores were associated with child verbal ability; maternal education, homelessness, and child nonverbal scores were related to child behavior disorders.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the anonymous reviewer for their truly helpful comments and Elizabeth T. Westerhaus, a research assistant at the Department of Psychiatry of Washington University School of Medicine for her technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 210 Benton Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0623, USA

    ManSoo Yu Ph.D.

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and North Texas VA Health Care System, Dallas, TX, USA

    Carol S. North M.D.

  3. The Program of Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Patricia D. LaVesser Ph.D.

  4. George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Victoria A. Osborne M.S.W.

  5. Department of Mathematics and Biostatistics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Edward L. Spitznagel Ph.D.

Authors
  1. ManSoo Yu Ph.D.
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  2. Carol S. North M.D.
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  3. Patricia D. LaVesser Ph.D.
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  4. Victoria A. Osborne M.S.W.
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  5. Edward L. Spitznagel Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to ManSoo Yu Ph.D..

Additional information

ManSoo Yu is affiliated with the Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.

Carol S. North is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and North Texas VA Health Care System, Dallas, TX, USA.

Patricia D. LaVesser is affiliated with the Program of Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.

Victoria A. Osborne is affiliated with George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA

Edward L. Spitznagel is affiliated with the Department of Mathematics and Biostatistics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.

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Yu, M., North, C.S., LaVesser, P.D. et al. A Comparison Study of Psychiatric and Behavior Disorders and Cognitive Ability Among Homeless and Housed Children. Community Ment Health J 44, 1–10 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-007-9100-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-007-9100-0

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