Inpatient psychiatric treatment of children and adolescents: a review of outcome studies.

All outcome studies of child and adolescent residential treatment and inpatient psychiatric hospitalization reported in the literature from 1975 to the present were examined. A set of statistical procedures was developed to integrate the findings of the 34 studies, which provided a weighted predictive value for 10 variables. Psychiatric hospitalization was often beneficial, particularly if a specialized treatment program and aftercare were available and if the child presented with a less pathological clinical picture. Age at admission and sex bore no relationship to favorable outcome, and IQ and length of stay yielded only a modest relationship to outcome. Recommendations to guide future researchers are offered that will provide new insights into better understanding inpatient psychiatric treatment.