Diagnostic patterns and child/parent separation in children attending the Jamaican Child Guidance Clinic

ABSTRACT

This review of the Jamaican Child Guidance Clinic referrals shows the following trends- 1. Children referred to the clinic show relatively higher percentage of parent/child separation than is the average in Jamaica. 2. Predominantly neurotic disorders were associated with (a) children living with both parents (b) middle-class families and higher intelligence. 3. Anti-social behaviour was associated with parent/child separation particularly in the early formative years (under 5 years) and frequently with a low I.Q. in the range or 70-90, but there was no association between clearcut mental sub-normality and parental background. The tendency was in fact for mentally subnormal children to come as often from the middle-class as lower-class families. Anti-social behaviour was also associated with lower-class background, but even within the middle-class group anti-social behaviour occurred significantly more often among the separated than among the non-separated. 4. We have endeavoured to relate certain clinical data to some social and cultural features peculiar to Jamaica and the West Indies. (Summary)