Correlates of Initial Treatment Assignment in a Community Mental Health Center

A total of 611 consecutive adult applicants to an urban mental health center received a standardized interview at application. Whenever possible, a standardized interview was also administered to a family member (N = 443). Significant associations between initial assignment and the followint variables were found: education, present occupation of head of household, age, race, person who accompanied patient to initial interview, type of psychiatric care during past five years, number of previous hospitalizations, diagnosis and number of presenting problems of an interpersonal nature. Nonsignificant associations were found between initial assignment and sex, marital status, and living arrangements. Departures from statistical expectation for each of the significant χ 2 analyses are presented.