Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of behavioural problems amongst homeless primary school-age children in an outer London borough.
Design: Cross-sectional study of homeless primary school children and permanently housed control children.
Setting: Selected primary schools in an outer London borough.
Subjects: Children from non-refugee families officially accepted as homeless by the local authority, and housed controls from the same schools.
Outcome measure: Rutter behavioural rating scale.
Results: Fewer homeless children (38%, 18 of 48) than housed (88%, 50 of 57) were born in the UK, or spoke English at home. Only 19 (40%) of the fathers of homeless children compared with 43 (75%) of housed children's fathers lived with them. Some 49% of homeless children's scores suggested a behavioural problem, compared with 11% of controls. Altogether, 94% of homeless and 100% of housed children were registered with a general practitioner.
Conclusions: High levels of behavioural problems were found in homeless children. With numbers of homeless children expected to rise in the 1990s this finding merits urgent attention.