Youngsters in 10-year study ‘disappeared’

ONE-IN-FIVE schoolchildren surveyed by sociologists in a ground-breaking study when they were 11 years old had ‘disappeared’ from society by the time they were 21.

Researchers releasing the findings of their 10-year follow-up study yesterday said exhaustive attempts to find the young people had come to nothing, leading to concerns that some, if not many, were in prison or psychiatric hospitals.

Anne Cleary of the Social Science Research Centre in University College Dublin, where the joint UCD-Trinity project was based, said the missing 20% was a major loss to the study as they were among the most disadvantaged at age 11.