A Discriminant Analysis of Committed and Voluntary Psychiatric Patients

Abstract

Eleven background, diagnostic, and hospitalization characteristics were used to discriminate committed and voluntary psychiatric patients in a double cross-validation design. Diagnosis was more important than individual social and status resources (race, marital status, education, and employment status) in discriminating the two groups of patients. Further, characteristics of hospitalization (length of stay, percentage of patients receiving maximum benefit from treatment, and frequency of discharge referrals) did not contribute significantly to discrimination of the two groups, suggesting that committed and voluntary patients did not differ with regard to the adequacy or effectiveness of treatment in the hospital.