Characteristics of children admitted to inpatient community mental health center.

Comparison of 100 children, aged 7 to 12 years, admitted to an inpatient service of a community mental health center (CMHC) with a matched control group of 100 children from the outpatient department of the same CMHC showed that a combination of several factors (rather than a single factor) led to inpatient admission. These factors included differences in Initial symptoms, diagnosis in DSM-III, axes I, II, and III, and family factors.