The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of contingent teacher praise, as specified by Canter's Assertive Discipline programme, on children's on-task behaviour. In Western Australian primary schools (and in an increasing number of British schools) Canter's programme is widely used. However, while there are many anecdotal reports of its effectiveness there is a relative absence of well controlled research studies reporting objective data. In the present study, three teachers from three separate primary schools and eight randomly selected children from each of their classes were systematically observed. Continuous data collection indicated that following training in the appropriate use of praise, as specified by Canter, all three teachers successfully increased their rates of praising. Of the 24 children, all but one evidenced increases in levels of on-task behaviour. However, observations conducted during a follow-up phase revealed reductions in the use of praise by the teachers and in some levels of on-task behaviour.

Research into self‐regulation and partner regulation strategies has largely involved parallel lines of research, thus, it is difficult to determine the relative contribution of both forms of regulation when it comes to relationship outcomes. Therefore, the question remains as to which form of regulation is more strongly associated with relationship quality; is it more important to focus on adaptive self‐regulation or adaptive strategies to regulate one's partner? The current research addresses this important gap by comparing the relative associations of adaptive self‐regulation and adaptive partner regulation strategies on romantic relationship quality. A community sample of mixed gender couples (N = 114) who were predominantly satisfied with their current relationships – but nonetheless still experienced relationship conflict – were administered self‐report assessments of various self‐regulation and partner regulation strategies as well as a measure of relationship quality. Couples also participated in a videotaped discussion of an unresolved relationship issue that was scored by trained coders for verbal and nonverbal indicators of self‐regulation and partner regulation strategies. Actor–partner interdependence modeling revealed that for both men and women, adaptive self‐regulation strategies were positively associated with their own evaluations of relationship quality as well as their partner's relationship quality. In contrast, engaging in adaptive partner regulation strategies was not significantly associated with men's or women's own, or their partner's relationship quality. Findings highlight the importance of focusing on self‐regulation in relationships, as it is these strategies, over partner regulation strategies, that have more positive implications for the relationship quality experienced by typically satisfied couples.

Objectives: Interpersonal and contextual factors are increasingly acknowledged to play an important role in understanding intimate partner maltreatment, abuse, and aggression. Nevertheless, several gaps in the literature exist. First, there is little dyadic and observational research into partner maltreatment. Second, there is little application of theoretical models with an interpersonal focus to guide research, policy, and practice. The present study adopted a diathesis–stress framework to understand the dyadic associations between attachment orientations and partner maltreatment, and the moderating role of perceived stress. Method: A total of 172 heterosexual couples completed measures of attachment and perceived stress and participated in a video-recorded discussion task. The interactions were coded for behaviors indicative of partner maltreatment. Actor–partner interdependence models were used to examine actor effects of attachment anxiety or avoidance on one’s own and one’s partner’s perpetration of partner maltreatment. The moderating effect of stress on actor–partner interactions was also examined. Results: Actor attachment avoidance, but not actor attachment anxiety, predicted actor perpetration of maltreatment, whereas both actor attachment anxiety and actor attachment avoidance predicted partner perpetration of maltreatment. Actor attachment avoidance was more positively associated with partner perpetration of maltreatment among actors with higher, relative to lower, levels of stress. Tests of gender invariance revealed few differences between men and women. Conclusions: The findings contribute to an emerging body of literature that uses dyadic modeling and observational approaches to examine the etiology of partner maltreatment and suggest that when contextual and dyadic factors are modeled, the interdependent nature of partner maltreatment cannot be overlooked.

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