This report describes a longitudinal study of children and their families. The first phase of the study, conducted in 1990 on a sample of 185 children, revealed that a considerable number of children (16%) and approximately a third of mothers showed evidence of clinically significant psychiatric disorder. Disorder in the child was associated with the economic circumstances of the family, and maternal health was linked to disadvantage as well as dissatisfaction with domestic roles and inadequate social support. The second phase of the research, on which this report is based, included 97 young people, successfully contacted and interviewed for the study in 2000. The aim was to examine their subsequent health and social development and to determine whether childhood psychological and behavioural disturbance was associated with long-term outcome