Previous research has shown that problem behavior maintained by social-negative reinforcement can be treated without escape extinction by enhancing the quality of positive reinforcement for an appropriate alternative response such as compliance. By contrast, negative reinforcement (escape) for compliance generally has been ineffective in the…

The Gambling Functional Assessment (GFA; Dixon & Johnson, 2007) is a 20-item self-report inventory identifying four potential consequences maintaining gambling behavior. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are performed for two large, nonclinical samples of university undergraduates. For the exploratory analysis, the optimal model…

Effects on the academic and disruptive behavior of special education pupils after adding a cost contingency to a token reinforcement procedure were examined. Response rates were higher when response cost was added than during either the baseline or token reinforcement contingency. (Author/MV)

The specific parenting domains measured by the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) make it particularly relevant to interventions concerned with the modification of parenting practices. This study assessed the validity and clinical utility of parent reports on the APQ using observational data of parents and children (N=56, aged 4-8 years)…

Effects of 2 home-based treatments to reduce school problems among 10 disruptive intermediate school students were probed. Although the treatment using only positive reinforcement yielded no significant change, a mixed reinforcement treatment brought both a decrease in rates of referrals to the office and decrease in depression rates. (Author/PB)