TRAINED,GENERALIZED, AND COLLATERAL BEHAVIOR CHANGES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN RECEIVING GROSS-MOTOR SKILLS TRAINING

Three preschool children participated in a behavioral training program to improve their gross-motor skills. Ten target behaviors were measured in the training setting to assess direct effects of the program. Generalization probes for two gross-motor behaviors, one fine-motor skill, and two social behaviors were conducted in other settings. Results indicated that the training program improved the gross-motor skills trained and that improvements sometimes generalized to other settings. Contrary to suggestions in educational literature, the gross-motor training program did not produce changes in fine-motor skills or social behaviors. Implications for educators and for the development of the technology of generalization are outlined.     

Coping Strategies,Substance Use,Sexual Activity,and HIV Sexual Risks in a Sample of Gay Male STD Patients1

The relationships of coping strategies with levels of substance use and sexual activity, and with HIV sexual risks, are examined in a sample of gay male STD clinic patients (n = 416). Previous research has suggested that use of problem-focused coping strategies should be negatively related to levels of substance use, levels of sexual activity, and HIV sexual risks; use of emotion-focused coping strategies should be positively related to these outcomes. It is argued that substance use and sexual activity clearly fit within a coping perspective, but that the HIV sexual risks/coping relationship is less clear. In multivariate analysis, the problem-focused strategy of advice seeking is negatively related to the number of types of drugs used and to the number of sexual partners; the problem-focused strategy of support seeking is negatively related to the number of days using drugs; and the use of emotion-focused strategies is positively related to the number of types of drugs used. Problem-focused coping strategies are less directly related to engaging in HIV sexual risks when measures of substance use and of sexual activity are included in the prediction; emotion-focused coping strategies are more stably related to HIV risk. Indirect effects of coping on HIV risk are also identified through the effects of coping on the number of types of drugs used, number of sex partners, and number of times having sex. It is proposed that the relationships between coping and levels of substance use and sexual activity reflect the use of these activities as ways of relieving strain, but that relationships between coping and HIV sexual risks involve less clearly understood direct and indirect relationships.     

IMPLICATIONS OF BEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGY RESEARCH FOR APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSES: JEAB'S SPECIAL ISSUE CELEBRATING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF JOSEPH V. BRADY (MARCH 1994)

We review four articles from JEAB's March 1994 issue celebrating the contributions of Joseph V. Brady. These articles have implications for studying private events and for studying multiple operants. We suggest that regularly including self-reports about private events in behavioral pharmacological research has resulted in an accumulated knowledge that has facilitated examination of interesting relations among self-reports, environmental factors, and other observable behaviors. Methodological lessons that behavioral pharmacologists have learned regarding the study of multiple operants are also relayed. We provide examples of how these lessons could be useful to applied behavior analysts studying nonpharmacological issues.     

Fairness from the Applicant's Perspective: Reactions to Employee Selection Procedures

Applicants' reactions to selection procedures were examined in terms of the satisfaction and/or violation of 10 procedural justice rules. Critical incidents (n= 237) of fair and unfair treatment during selection were collected from 31 individuals who had recently experienced job search and hiring processes. Incidents were categorized into 10 procedural justice rules and the distribution of these incidents was examined for different hiring outcomes and different selection procedures. Dominant procedural concerns reflected selection procedure job relatedness and interpersonal treatment applicants received. Accepted applicants were primarily concerned about consistency of treatment, while rejected applicants were more concerned with timely feedback and blatant bias. Ease of faking was the primary procedural concern of applicants taking honesty and personality tests, while job relatedness was the primary concern with ability and work sample tests. Research issues were discussed and a number of practical suggestions were offered in terms of minimizing applicants' negative reactions to the selection process.     

An inverse relationship between baseline fixed-interval response rate and the effects of a tandem response requirement.

Previous experiments examining the effects of adding a tandem fixed-ratio response requirement on fixed-interval schedule performance have reported inconsistent results. One variable that may account for such inconsistencies is the baseline response rate in the fixed-interval condition. This possibility was investigated in the present study. Rats were given histories with either interresponse times greater than 11 s or fixed-ratio 40 schedules of reinforcement, which engendered either relatively low or high rates of responding, respectively, in the subsequent fixed-interval condition. A tandem ratio response requirement (fixed-ratio 9) was then introduced. The effects of adding this tandem response requirement were inversely related to the baseline fixed-interval response rates; low rates of responding in the fixed-interval condition were markedly increased, whereas high rates of responding were relatively unaffected. This inverse relationship appears to be similar to the rate-dependent relations observed in behavioral pharmacology. These results may provide an explanation for the inconsistent findings reported in previous studies on tandem fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedules and suggest that principles of behavioral pharmacology research may be applicable to the study of the effects of nonpharmacological variables on schedule-controlled behavior.     

Cognitive processes,school achievement,and comprehension of ambiguous sentences

Previous research has identified three distinct forms of linguistic ambiguity: lexical, surface structural, and deep structural. Cummins and Das (1978) studied these forms of ambiguity in the context of Das, Kirby and Jarman's (1979) model of simultaneous and successive processing, and demonstrated that comprehension of lexical ambiguity depended upon simultaneous processing, while that of surface and deep structural ambiguity depended upon successive processing. The present study investigated the relationship between these cognitive and linguistic processes in a group of older children. The subjects' level of English achievement was also considered. The results showed that comprehension of all three forms of ambiguity was strongly related to level of English achievement, though deep structure ambiguities best descriminated the English achievement groups. Results also showed that perception of all types of ambiguity was related to both simultaneous and successive processing. Subjects with high successive processing scores had an additional advantage in perceiving deep structure ambiguities. These results suggest the need for an elaboration of the Cummins and Das cognitive process model of liguistic processes, demonstrating that a variety of task variables can alter the cognitive processes required in performance of linguistic tasks.This study was supported by an Australian Research Grants Committee grant to J. B. Biggs and the author.     

Acute Alcohol Co‐Ingestion and Hospital‐Treated Deliberate Self‐Poisoning: Is There an Effect on Subsequent Self‐Harm?

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between alcohol co‐ingestion in an index deliberate self‐poisoning (DSP) episode with repeated DSP and subsequent suicide. A retrospective cohort study was conducted involving 5,669 consecutive index presentations to a toxicology service following DSP between January 1, 1996, and October 31, 2010. Records were probabilistically matched to National Coronial Information System data to identify subsequent suicide. Index DSPs were categorized on co‐ingestion of alcohol, and primary outcomes analyzed were repetition of any DSP, rates of repeated DSP, time to first repeat DSP, and subsequent suicide. Co‐ingestion of alcohol occurred in 35.9% of index admissions. There was no difference between those who co‐ingested alcohol (ALC+) and those who did not co‐ingest alcohol (ALC?) in terms of proportion of repeat DSP, number of DSP events, or time to first repeat DSP event. Forty‐one (1.0%) cases were probabilistically matched to a suicide death; there was no difference in the proportion of suicide between ALC+ and ALC? at 1 or 3 years. There was no significant relationship between the co‐ingestion of alcohol in an index DSP and subsequent repeated DSP or suicide. Clinically, this highlights the importance of mental health assessment of patients that present after DSP, irrespective of alcohol co‐ingestion at the time of event.     

Couple-based interventions for medical problems

The current paper discusses general principles, therapeutic strategies, common factors, and domains commonly addressed in the treatment of couples who have a partner with a medical condition. Couple-based interventions for medical problems are contrasted with couple therapy and relationship education in that the emphasis is on assisting the patient in addressing the medical disorder, along with being attentive to the patient's partner and their relationship. Guidelines are provided showing how knowledge and understanding of medical disorders and couple functioning are integrated in order to conduct such interventions. Five common domains addressed during intervention are elaborated upon: (a) psychoeducation about the disorder, (b) sharing thoughts and feeling regarding the disorder, (c) making decisions focal to the medical disorder, (d) implementing relationship changes that are nonmedical but that result from the disorder, and (e) addressing relationship functioning unrelated to the disorder. The importance of empirically demonstrating the utility of each domain in future investigations is noted.