Summarizes outcome results of treatment programs for boys exhibiting problems commonly subsumed under the label "conduct disorder." Treatment consisted of training agents in each setting to alter the deviant behaviors of the problem child. Direct observations were made in children's homes and classrooms before, during, and after intervention.…

A description of the socio-demographic characteristics associated with student drug use is discussed. Findings indicate that while drug usage began to increase in the seventh grade, substantial increases occurred after this grade level. For all substances, drug use peaked in the ninth or tenth grade with dramatic decreases in the twelfth grade.…

The study compared the efficacy of proclamation, contracting, and contingent teacher approval in modifying the classroom behavior of 5 Negro adolescents. Proclamation consisted of a written statement of reward and punishment contingencies (points gained or lost) under which the class was operating, whereas the contracting phase permitted students…

Two treatment components were manipulated in this study: (a) contingency contracting with parents and (b) the order in which problems of varying difficulty were treated. The meaning of convergence and discrepancy among data sources is discussed with regard to individual cases and the sample as a whole. (Author)

Response-cost refers to a procedure whereby a positive reinforcer is lost or some penalty is invoked following a specific misbehavior. In an alternate procedure called Differential Reinforcement of Other Responses (DRO), a reinforcing stimulus is delivered when a particular response is not emitted for a specific interval of time. This study…

This study investigates the effects of teaching decision-making skills on the classroom behavior of middle school problem students. Small groups of students met for 15 weeks with a counselor who adapted the "Deciding" program (College Entrance Examination Board) as the decision-making paradigm. Coppersmith's Self-Esteem Index and…

A study investigated whether older persons as a group are generally more persuaded by high authority figures than are younger persons. The study employed a design that allowed for extensive comparisons among subjects of different ages in terms of their willingness to be persuaded by physicians in interpersonal situations. One hundred-twenty…

Investigates the effects of early tobacco and alcohol use on adolescent sexual behaviors 2 years after initiation among 73 adolescent girls, 79 adolescent boys, and their parents. A relationship exists between age-related deviant behaviors and sexual activity and the effects of early transitions to adult behaviors such as tobacco and alcohol use.…

A socially valid behavior-change intervention is broadly defined to be directed to a problem of verifiable importance, be accepted and used appropriately by target groups, and reduce substantially the probability of the problem's occurrence in target populations. The definition is applied to a family-based program to prevent human immunodeficiency…

The purpose of this book is to report and interpret a group of research studies relating to social-cognitive development in early childhood through adolescence. Adults interpret the covert psychological properties of other people, their abilities, knowledge, motives, attitudes, perceptions, and intentions relevant to concrete situations. An infant…