LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF OPPOSITIONAL CHILD TREATMENT WITH MOTHERS AS THERAPISTS AND THERAPIST TRAINERS

The follow-up data reported represent a long-term (3 to 9 years out of treatment) evaluation of 40 children who were clients of the Regional Intervention Program (RIP) from 1969 to 1978. As 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds, these youngsters exhibited severe and prolonged tantrums, continual opposition to adults' requests and commands, and physical aggression toward parents. Each child and mother participated in a standardized intervention package modeled after Wahler's Opposition Child Treatment. Results from school and home-based follow-up showed that: (a) commands, demands, or requests made by parents were likely to be followed by former clients' compliance; (b) former clients' social interactions in the home were overwhelmingly positive and their nonsocial behavior was by and large appropriate; (c) parent behavior in the home was consistent with the child management skills taught many years ago; (d) there were no differences between the compliant, on-task, social interaction and appropriate/inappropriate nonsocial behaviors of former clients and randomly selected class peers; (e) there were no differences in teachers' commands, negative feedback, positive social reinforcement, and repeated commands that were directed toward either former clients or randomly selected class peers; (f) both teachers' and parents' rating of former clients on the modified Walker Problem Behavior Checklist were highly correlated; (g) there were no differences in teachers' rating of former clients and class peers; and (h) of all the studied demographic variables, only age that treatment began and family intactness were related to current levels of behavior.     

Empathy: A factor in antisocial behavior

Empathy has been accepted as a crucial factor in the development of prosocial thought and behavior. This study attempted to clarify the role of empathy in the development of antisocial and aggressive delinquent behavior. The subjects were 331 delinquents and 64 nondelinquent controls ages 12 to 18. The delinquents were found to be significantly delayed or arrested in the development of empathy. The nondelinquent group exhibited a significant age-related increase in empathy during the adolescent period, whereas the delinquent group did not. Of three delinquent subgroups utilized, the neurotics were least empathic, the psychopathics next, and the subculturals the most empathic; the groups differed significantly from each other. Aggressive delinquents were significantly lower in empathy level than nonaggressive delinquents, though differentiation by type of aggression (person or property) was not significant.This research was based on the author's doctoral dissertation. The author wishes to express his appreciation to Dr. Henry R. Angelino, Dr. Charles Wenar, and Dr. John Gibbs of the Ohio State University for their support and guidance.     

Judged school problems and competencies of referred children with varying family background characteristics

The school adjustment problems and competencies of referred children with varying family background histories were compared. Children from homes characterized by low parent interest in education had more severe learning problems and fewer competencies than either matched referred controls without such a history or matched referred children under family pressure to succeed. The relationship of these findings to other studies of school adjustment and family background was considered.This research was done with grant support from the NIMH Experimental and Special Training Branch (MH 11820-06), which the authors acknowledge with gratitude.     

Nonprofessional and professional help-agents' views of interventions with young maladapting school children

The expectations of nonprofessional and professional help-agents about helping interventions with young children experiencing different types of school adjustment problems (i.e., aggressive-acting out, shy-anxious, and learning problems) were studied. The two groups responded similarly. Shy-anxious children were seen as most appropriate for the intervention, the easiest and most enjoyable group to work with, and as having the best prognoses. These four sets of judgments were relatively independent of each other. A connection was made between the current data and prior findings suggesting that shy-anxious children have more favorable treatment outcomes than other groups.     

Parent-peer influence as a predictor of marijuana use.

Although there is some literature which discusses adolescent reference groups, none have utilized reference group theory to examine the relative impact of the parent and peer reference groups and to attempt to predict behavior among teenagers from this knowledge. This study attempts to correct this deficiency by examining the frequency of marijuana use in a nonrandom sample of college students from a large southwestern university. Ordinal type scales and tau-b provide a statistically strong degree of association between the type of reference group orientation and marijuana use. The results of this study show that the influence of the most salient reference group appears to be an important predictor of whether or not an individual may engage in the use of marijuana.     

Similarity effects in face recognition

Three experiments are described which examine the effects of similarity on face recognition using a new application of hierarchical clustering analysis (HCS). Experiments I and II employed a within-groups design where subjects attempted to recognize targets among decoys from the same and different cluster to the target. Common cluster membership accounted for 72% and 84%, respectively, of all false alarms in the two experiments. Absolute error rates were affected by the number of targets actually present in the array and the style of the instructions given to subjects but were not influenced by whether successive or simultaneous test presentation was employed. Experiment III used a between-subject design where targets were embedded in arrays composed from same or different clusters. False alarm rates were significantly higher for the same cluster condition, but hit rates were unaffected by recognition context. The significance of these findings for theories of face identification is discussed.     

The issue of force and energy in behavioral change

The issue of force and energy in behavioral change involves the following question. Assuming that certain ideas or cognitions help individuals to change their basic personality structure, is it important that these ideas be conveyed by the therapists, or by the clients, to themselves, in a vigorous, forceful and dramatic manner? This question, along with the concomitant one of “intellectual” versus “emotional” insight, has been neglected and avoided in much of the recent literature. This article considers these questions, tries to formulate an operational definition of force and energy in behavioral change, and suggests some specific things that clients may do to achieve “emotional” insight or elegant philosophic reconstruction.