Adolescents in custody: hidden psychological morbidity?

Seventy-eight adolescents admitted to Adelaide's youth remand centre provided social data and completed the Youth Self Report (YSR) checklist. Most came from chaotic social backgrounds and were without education or family support. Nearly 40% of remanded adolescents scored above the recommended cut-off scores of the YSR, a figure four times greater than that found among adolescents living in the community. This figure was comparable with that reported by adolescents attending child psychiatric services in Adelaide.