Examines the child rearing and disciplinary methods of parents of adolescent boys who were reported by their parents to be serious control problems. On the basis of a social learning analysis of family relationships, it was hypothesized that parental difficulty in controlling adolescents was related to two factors: parent consistency in setting and enforcing rules, and parental failure to effectively utilize positive reinforcement to promote socially desirable behavior and compliance with parental demands. (Editor/RK)