National Adolescent and Child Treatment Study (NACTS): Outcomes for Children with Serious Emotional and Behavioral Disturbance

The specific purpose of the study was to compile descriptive dam on children with serious emotional disturbance (SED), including (a) demographic and family characteristics, (b) level of psychological and adaptive functioning, (c) services received, and (d) outcomes or how the children fared over time. The sample consisted of 812 children, ages 8 to 18 years (M =13.89 years, SD = 2.35), who had been identified as having SED and were being served by either mental health (46%) or public school (54%) systems in accordance with P.L. 94-142. Data were collected annually during a 7-year period. Results indicated that, at entry into the study, the children already had serious problems in many domains and the problems remained serious for these children at the end of the study.