School-Based Secondary Prevention for Children with Disruptive Behavior: Initial Outcomes

First through fourth graders from 22 suburban elementary schools were screened for cross-setting disruptive behavior as eligibility criteria for participation in a longitudinal secondary prevention study aimed at reducing the risk for serious externalizing behavioral disorders. Three hundred nine subjects participated in either a multicomponent competence enhancement intervention (MCEI) or an information/attention control (IAC) condition over a 2-year period. Following baseline measurements, initial intervention effects were assessed at the end of intervention Year 1, at the beginning of intervention Year 2 (fall of the next school year), and at the end of intervention Year 2. Multisource assessments were not supportive of the efficacy of the MCEI over the IAC condition. Children in both groups rated themselves as improved over time in terms of increased adaptive skills and decreased school problems and internalizing symptoms. Teacher and parent ratings of externalizing behavior did not yield evidence of positive change, but teachers noted improved problem solving and observers noted a decrease in behavioral interference in both groups over time, possibly as a result of maturation.     

Escape from deficits in sodium intake after thalamic lesions as a function of preoperative experience

Saline and water intakes in response to treatments with a natriuretic agent and a mineralocorticoid were studied in intact rats and in rats with lesions centered in the taste delay of the thalamus. Intact rats responded to the treatments by increasing both saline and water intake. Rats with thalamic lesions that had never drunk saline prior to induction of the lesions generally did not increase their saline intake in response to the treatments but showed normal increases in water intake. In contrast, rats with thalamic lesions that had drunk saline prior to induction of the lesions showed normal increases in both saline and water intake. Preoperative experience of sodium need did not protect rats against the lesion-induced deficit.     

Selective self-disclosure with and without correspondent performance

If people are motivated to elicit attributions from others, are they capable of using attribution theory as a means to this end? To explore this question, subjects were asked to select information to disclose to hypothetical target persons in order to have those target persons make specific attributions about the subjects' traits and abilities. The disclosures conformed well to a model sensitive to the principles of augmentation and discounting. The model considers the causal relevance and value of personal information and whether the self-presenter is given the opportunity to engage in behavior that accomplishes some specific self-presentational objective. The results, in line with the model, showed that subjects having the opportunity to engage in such “correspondent” behavior, are subsequently eager to disclose impediments that highlight the likely presence of highly valued behavioral causes. Subjects without such an opportunity seek to disclose facilitating causal factors that would make an effective performance appear to be more likely should the opportunity later arise.     

Level of instigation and model similarity as determinants of aggressive behavior

A study was conducted to replicate and extend a finding by Wheeler and Levine [1967] indicating that a dissimilar model was more effective in inducing the contagion of aggression than a similar model. On the basis of recent findings suggesting the circumstances under which dissimilar others are more influential than similar others, the following predictions were derived: When subjects are highly instigated, dissimilar models can influence subjects to be more aggressive than can similar models; when subjects are under a low degree of instigation similar models will influence subjects to be more aggressive. Subjects presented their point of view on a case study in a three-person group discussion setting. Then subjects heard the second person (instigator) attack their position in a highly abusive or slightly abusive manner (High vs Low Instigation). Next subjects heard a third person, whom they had been led to believe was similar or dissimilar to themselves, attack the instigator (Similar vs Dissimilar Model). Finally subjects had an opportunity to express their feelings to the instigator. The results supported the predictions.     

An automated version of the digit symbol substitution test (DSST)

An automated version of the Digit Symbol Substitution Test is described that employs a relatively inexpensive, commercially available microcomputer to present and score the task. Advantages of the automated DSST include: (1) objective scoring of both speed and accuracy of test performance, (2) printed copies of test scores, (3) convenient administration under standardized test conditions, and (4) the capacity for repeated assessment of an individual’s performance over time. Task performance data for individual subjects following doses of pentobarbital are presented; these data illustrate both the stability of task performance under constant conditions and the within-subjects sensitivity of task performance to experimental manipulations.     

Self-monitoring effects in a four-year-old child: An ecological behavior analysis

This study, using an ABABA design, investigated the effects of a self-monitoring (SM) procedure on the sustained schoolwork (SS) behavior of a four-year-old child. The results indicated that SM resulted in an increased rate of SS behavior in the absence of a clear functional relation between ecological variables (e.g., teacher attention) and SS behavior. Increased SS was accompanied by an increase in compliance (C) behavior. The observed co-variation between SS and C was discussed in terms of Wahler's (1975) response-class hypothesis.