Page 108 - Age of onset of disruptive behavior of residentially treated adolescents -Sjoukje de Boer

treatment, GSI at admission and GSI at discharge, or general daily functioning eighteen months after discharge.
Regression analyses
Completion of treatment significantly predicted general daily functioning at follow-up (F (1, 193) = 22.66, p<.001), explaining 10.1% of the variance.
After controlling for early-onset disruptive behavior, completion of treatment explained 11.0% of the variance in general daily functioning at follow-up (F (2, 172) = 10.65, p<.001).The model with cannabis usage prior to admission as control variable, was statistically significant as well (F (2, 192) = 14.81, p<.001), with 13.4% of the variance explained. When the influence of male sex was taken into account, 12.3% of the variance in general daily functioning at follow-up was explained (F (2, 192) = 13.44, p<.001).
After controlling for the combined influence of early-onset disruptive behavior, cannabis usage prior to admission and male sex, the total variance explained was 17.1%, F (4, 170) = 8.76, p<.001. These factors combined explained an additional 7.0% of the variance in general daily functioning at follow-up (R squared change = .07, F change (1, 170) = 4.78, p=.003). In this model, all variables were statistically significant related to daily functioning, with the exception of early-onset disruptive behavior (which almost reached significance). Discharge status recorded the highest beta value (β = .30, p<.001), followed by cannabis usage prior to treatment (β = -.19, p=.01), male sex (β = -.17, p=.021), and early-onset disruptive behavior (β = .13, p=.066).
Discussion
The present paper reports whether dropout is associated with poorer general daily functioning at follow-up in youth with severe disruptive behavior. To our knowledge this has not been examined before, since follow-up research is usually conducted among patients who completed the treatment. It was found that former patients who completed a treatment for psychiatric disorders and severe disruptive behavior functioned better in the eighteen months after discharge than those who dropped out. This finding remained when controlling for other factors that previously have been associated with dropout.
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