title: Fire-setting behavior in the histories of a state hospital population.
abstract: Review of the records of 191 nongeriatric state hospital inpatients showed that 50 (26%) of the patients had engaged in some form of fire-setting behavior; half of this group had engaged in a single episode. As a group, persons who had engaged in fire-setting behavior were significantly more likely to have a history of nonlethal self-injurious behavior and had a significantly greater number of admissions to the state hospital. The data suggest that fire setting by any patient cannot be accurately predicted and that fire-setting behavior may be an example of destructive operant behavior.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005391:Firesetting Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006783:Hospitals, State; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010359:Patient Readmission; D011336:Probability; D012652:Self Mutilation / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States