Who are the Adolescents Admitted to an Inpatient Unit? Results of a Latent Profile Analysis from an Acute, Psychiatric Hospital

ABSTRACT

Psychiatric inpatient units are used when youth experience severe behavioral or emotional concerns causing significant impairment or needing emergency attention. Even though service use has increased over 40% in recent years, research in this area is limited. The goals of this study are (1) to characterize adolescents who were admitted to an inpatient unit into transdiagnostic symptom profiles, and (2) to assess the relation among adolescents’ profiles and demographic and clinical information. Participants were 230 adolescents admitted to an acute, psychiatric hospital. Adolescents completed an electronic survey of demographic and psychological symptoms (i.e., depression, hopelessness, anxiety, trauma, irritability, and aggression) within the first 48 hours of admission. Data were analyzed using latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify subgroups or profiles of adolescents. Linear regression analyses were run to evaluate differences among subgroups and demographic information. Results from the LPA revealed a six-profile model: Irritable Depression, Dysphoric Depression, Irritability, Mild Depression, Irritable Traumatic Stress, and Traumatic Stress. These findings have several clinical and practical implications. Specifically, this research could aid in the understanding of types of adolescents on an inpatient unit, which could help inform psychological services offered during and after hospitalization to improve functioning, reduce symptoms, and decrease length of stay.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).