A longitudinal study of mental health problems in a suburban population in Sudan

Abstract

ABSTRACT– A psychiatric study of 197 children living in villages outside Khartoum was made in 1964–1965. In 1983, 104 randomly chosen subjects were investigated again. All were interviewed by a psychiatrist and somatically examined. The overall psychiatric impairment was 14% (males, 18%; females, 8%) according to the psychiatric interview; the Self‐rating Questionnaire gave a higher figure (28%). The rate of somatic illness was similar: 14% according to the medical doctor, 22% according to the self‐rating of the subjects. Childhood data predicted 17% of the variance in adult mental health. Somatic state of health in childhood and traditional type of work by the father were the most important variables. Data from the life situation of the individual explained 67% of the variance in adult mental health. Copyright © 1989, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved