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The Contribution of Children’s Temperamental Fear and Effortful Control to Restraint and Seclusion During Inpatient Treatment in a Psychiatric Hospital

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Abstract

The current study examined temperament characteristics as risk factors for restraint and seclusion (R/S) events in psychiatrically hospitalized youth, extending work that has sought to identify R/S risk factors and research examining temperament-behavior problem associations that has largely relied upon community samples. It was anticipated that children with poor effortful control (EC) and greater frustration would have more instances of R/S during psychiatric hospitalization. The contribution of children’s fearfulness to R/S was also examined. A measure of temperament was completed by youths’ clinicians and youths (n = 52) completed objective measures of EC. The frequency of R/S events for each participant was obtained from hospital records. After controlling for R/S risk factors, lower EC and higher fearfulness predicted increased R/S occurrences during the first 2 weeks of hospitalization and over the course of children’s entire hospitalization. These findings indicate that temperament should potentially be considered in individualized treatment plans targeting the prevention and/or reduction of R/S. Additional implications of the findings are also discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The author’s would like to gratefully acknowledge the staff members at Riverview Hospital for their time and support in facilitating this project. We would also like to thank the patients who took time to participate in this study.

Conflict of interest

The author’s do not have any conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Emotion Regulation and Temperament Laboratory, Northern Illinois University, Psychology-Computer Science Building Rm. 400, DeKalb, IL, 60115, USA

    David J. Bridgett

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

    Kristin Valentino

  3. Riverview Hospital for Children and Youth, Middletown, CT, USA

    Lisa C. Hayden

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  1. David J. Bridgett
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  2. Kristin Valentino
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  3. Lisa C. Hayden
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Correspondence to David J. Bridgett.

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Bridgett, D.J., Valentino, K. & Hayden, L.C. The Contribution of Children’s Temperamental Fear and Effortful Control to Restraint and Seclusion During Inpatient Treatment in a Psychiatric Hospital. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 43, 821–836 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-012-0298-x

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