The Relationship of Self-Reported Psychosocial Protective Factors to Characteristics of Adolescent Psychiatric Patients

Purpose: To explore the relationship of self-reported resiliency (protective) factors on severity of psychiatric characteristics of adolescents hospitalized with psychiatric illness. Methods: Study population included 106 randomly selected youth between ages of 12-17 admitted to the Carilion Child and Adolescent Psychiatric inpatient. Patients completed the Youth Resiliency Checklist (YRC) upon admission. Data was analyzed using one way ANOVA, and correlational tests as appropriate. Results: A significant relationship was found between the outlooks subscale of the YRC, and length of hospital stay (LOS), (p = 0.0067). Also, a significant relationship (p = 0.0393) was found between the social skills subscale, and those with 2 versus 3 or more hospitalizations (means 13.92 versus 11.13). A significant relationship of 0.05 found when comparing social support subscale means for patients with LOS 1-5 days (14.78) to those with LOS 6-10 (12.18). Conclusion: There are significant relationships between LOS and YRC-rated outlooks and social support, and between number of hospitalizations and YRC-rated social skills.