Psychological Impact of Boarding School

Penny Cavenagh, PhD, is currently a professor of health research and enterprise at the University of Suffolk, visiting professor at the University of Essex and a chartered psychologist. She has published extensively in books and academic journals in the field of medical management, medical education and dysfluency. She boarded for four years at an all-girls school in the early 1970s. Susan McPherson, PhD, is currently a professor of psychology and sociology at the University of Essex and has been a researcher in the field of mental health for 25 years after studying at the London School of Economics, University College London and Kings College London. She was a full-time boarder from age 8 to 18 during the 1980s and 1990s including three years at a junior boarding school. Jane Ogden, PhD, is currently a professor of health psychology at the University of Surrey where she has been teaching for the last 18 years. She has written 8 books relating to health psychology, eating behaviour, weight management, parenting and critical thinking and over 230 research papers on many aspects of health psychology.

• 1. British boarding schools on trial: Making the case for new evidence 2. British boarding schools, mental health and resilience: Survey research 3. The impact of boarding school on adult relationships: Men’s accounts 4. It’s not all down to boarding: Early family and peer relationships among boarders 5. The impact of boarding school on adult eating behaviour 6. How does boarding school influence feelings of loneliness? 7: The shadow side of boarding schools: Childhood sexual abuse and its aftermath 8. Having psychotherapy to help with boarding school experiences: The role of denial, shame and privilege 9. Escape, autonomy, friendship and resilience: Positive experiences of British boarding school 10. British boarding schools on trial: Making the case for ‘boarding family syndrome’

‘A scholarly and nuanced study on the long-term psychological impacts of British boarding schools: while some people thrive in boarding schools, for too many others the adverse psychological impacts last a lifetime.’Benedict Rattigan, author and ex-boarder at Eton'Boarding is often misunderstood and misrepresented, but this invaluable book provides a wide, and evidence-informed, analysis of the sector. Importantly, the authors allow the voices of the former pupils themselves to speak and in doing so reveal a nuanced and complex series of personal narratives. This is a book that should be read not only by those who work in boarding schools, but by anyone involved in education and child psychology.'David James, co-editor of The State of Independence