Pediatric Aggression and Violence

Violence and aggression on pediatric psychiatry units has led to staff and patient injuries
and even deaths around the country. In an effort to improve safety, the investigators have
developed a method (with the Brief Rating of Child and Adolescent Aggression) of identifying
children and adolescents at a higher risk for aggression and violence on the units. In
order to improve this prediction, the investigators plan to study salivary hormones in low
risk children and high risk children. The salivary hormones to be studied include cortisol,
testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS). The investigators expect to
improve the vestigators current ability to predict the severity and type of pediatric
aggression and violence on the inpatient units by combining information from the Brief
Rating of Child and Adolescent Aggression (BRACHA), the Predatory-Affective Aggression Scale
(Vitiello et al., 1990), and salivary hormones.