A comparative evaluation of parent-training interventions for families of chronic delinquents

Fifty-five families of chronically offending delinquents were randomly assigned to parent-training treatment or to service traditionally provided by the juvenile court and community. The families in the parent-training group received an average of 44.8 hours of professional contact (23.3 hours of which were phone contacts), and each control group family received treatment estimated at more than 50 hours on the average. Comparisons of police contact data at baseline and subsequent years for the two groups showed that subjects in both groups demonstrated reduced rates of offending during the followup years. The finding most relevant was significant treatment-by-time effect for offense rates, with most of this effect accounted for by a greater reduction in serious crimes for the experimental group during the treatment year, and a similar reduction of the community control group occurring in the first of three followup years. These early decrements in offense rates persisted during followup for both groups. Throughout the study, boys in the experimental group spent significantly less time in institutional settings than did boys in the control group. Parent training had a significant impact, but the reduction in offending was produced at very high emotional cost to staff. Although it is clear that this population requires substantial treatment resources, this study underscores the need for more work on prevention.Research for this paper was supported by grant MH 37938 from the Center for Studies of Antisocial and Violent Behavior, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). The writing was supported in part by grants MH 17126 and MH 37940 from the same Center, grant DA 05304 from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, U.S. PHS., and grant MH 38730 from the Child and Adolescent Disorders Research Branch, NIMH, U.S. PHS. The authors gratefully acknowledge the enduring commitment of the treatment staff that made this study possible: Patricia Chamberlain, Marion Forgatch, and Kate Kavanagh.     

Time-series analysis in operant research

A time-series method is presented, nontechnically, for analysis of data generated in individual-subject operant studies, and is recommended as a supplement to visual analysis of behavior change in reversal or multiple-baseline experiments. The method can be used to identify three kinds of statistically significant behavior change: (a) changes in score levels from one experimental phase to another, (b) reliable upward or downward trends in scores, and (c) changes in trends between phases. The detection of, and reliance on, serial dependency (autocorrelation among temporally adjacent scores) in individual-subject behavioral scores is emphasized. Examples of published data from the operant literature are used to illustrate the time-series method.     

Improving the validity of global ratings

To examine the effects of behavior sampling on global ratings, four groups of 10 teachers each received varying amounts of observation training, practice, and feedback. Teachers viewed a series of seven videotapes depicting two boys whose percentage of distractible behavior was systematically manipulated. Ratings of distractibility were obtained for each taped vignette. Results showed that teachers who received observation training and who routinely collected data in their own classroom submitted ratings which corresponded to actual levels of distractible behavior. Teachers who received no training, or who were trained but did not practice, submitted ratings that were significantly less accurate.This research was supported by the Molson Foundation, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.     

The utility of tracking child behavior

To assess the impact of observation training and tracking of child behavior, each of 20 elementary school teachers participating in a behavior modification practicum was assigned to either an experimental or a control group. For each teacher, a disruptive, distractible child was identified as appropriate for behavioral intervention. All teachers were taught identical intervention strategies, but the two groups differed in the degree to which teachers were initially trained and subsequently required to observe and record discrete child behaviors. Multiple measures were used to assess the influence of monitoring child behaviors. These included observed child behavior, observed teacher behavior, teacher ratings, and correspondence between teacher perception and child behavior. Results showed that tracking the behavior of children had little or no effect on any measure.Support for this study was provided by the Molson Foundation and the Grant Foundation. Computing assistance was furnished by Health Sciences Computing Facility, UCLA. The author wishes to thank Marc Wilchesky, John Corson, Dick Jones, and Gerald Patterson for assisting in various aspects of this study.     

Effects of serial dependency on the agreement between visual and statistical inference

Comparisons between visual and time-series inferences from behavioral data show that serial dependency in scores is likely to disrupt agreement between the two methods of analysis. If researchers follow an earlier recommendation that time-series analysis be used to supplement or confirm visual analysis, this study's findings suggest that the two methods will disagree most often when the data contain high levels of autocorrelation and when reliable behavorial changes are indicated by time-series analysis.