Family interaction and acting-out behavior of adolescent psychiatric patients

Although the literature has described how families reinforce and contribute to acting out by adolescents, this phenomena has not previously been studied within the psychiatric hospital. The present study systematically investigated whether family interaction influences the acting-out behavior of hospitalized adolescent psychiatric patients. Data was collected from the clinical charts of 94 adolescents, each hospitalized for over 30 days. The results supported the contention that families do contribute to acting out in the hospital. However, a majority of the acting out was not directly related to family contact. The research highlights how the hospital can serve to offset negative influences by engaging the family in treatment and by considering family contact during treatment planning.