USING INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT TO PROGRAM MAINTENANCE OF VERBAL/NONVERBAL CORRESPONDENCE

We investigated the effects of an intermittent reinforcement procedure on maintenance of verbal/nonverbal correspondence with nutritious snack choices in a day-care setting. Nutritious snack choices were first established using correspondence training procedures in a multiple baseline across three children. Withdrawal of the procedures with one subject led to loss of appropriate responding, suggesting the need for a maintenance strategy. The intermittent reinforcement procedure was implemented in a multiple baseline across subjects. Nutritious snack choices were observed consistently during the intermittent reinforcement condition and the subsequent extinction condition.     

Characteristics of Suicidality Among Adolescents

The identification of high-risk adolescent suicide attempters in a population of depressed and suicidal adolescents is of crucial importance. This retrospective study examined characteristics of suicidality (recent and lifetime, active and passive) and psychopathology (depression, aggression, impulsivity, stressful life events, SCL-90 dimensions) among four groups of depressed adolescent outpatients: (1) suicide attempters who required medical treatment (n = 84), (2) suicide attempters who did not require medical treatment (n = 57), (3) suicidal ideators who had never made a suicide attempt (n = 40), and (4) nonsuicidal patients (n = 44). Results indicate that the nonsuicidal group could be differentiated from the three suicidal groups on the basis of suicidality and psychopathology, and that the three suicidal groups could be differentiated from one another on the basis of suicidality but not psychopathology. These findings are discussed in terms of the usefulness of certain self-report measures of suicidality for identifying suicidal adolescents and for differentiating among them. Furthermore, the findings suggest that psychopathological factors do not determine which suicidal adolescents make a medically dangerous suicide attempt and which do not.