Unaccompanied minors and court mandated institutional care: A national registry-based study in Sweden

•There is a concern regarding the appropriateness of compulsory care for unaccompanied minors.•We used a national registry-based study.•We aim to compare restrictive actions by institutional staff between unaccompanied minors and others in compulsory care.•Restrictive actions were used to a lower extent among UAMs compare to other minors.•The Swedish compulsory care system may not be an appropriate care model for UAMs.