The checklist was based on five correlates of violent behavior: history of physical attacks and/or fear-inducing behavior within 2 weeks before admission, absence of suicidal behavior, schizophrenic or manic diagnosis, male gender, and currently married or living together. Violence during hospitalization was measured using the Overt Aggression Scale. Application of the checklist to a sample of 338 patients admitted to a university-based inpatient unit revealed promising results in identifying patients who later displayed aggressive behavior in the hospital, as indicated by its positive predictive value (59 percent), negative predictive value (70.6 percent), sensitivity (57.2 percent), specificity (70 percent), total predictive value (65.4 percent), and likelihood ratio (1.97). Results demonstrated the potential value of incorporating actuarial methods in evaluating violence risk. By systematically including proven correlates of violent behavior, screening checklists served to ensure that clinical decisionmaking for individual patients took these correlates into account. 28 references and 2 tables