Disadvantaged children were assigned to a college student (21 male and 22 female dyads) or to a control group in a replication of Goodman's study of companionship therapy. The student's therapeutic talent was assessed by the Group Assessment of Interpersonal Traits (GAIT). Companioned children improved significantly more than controls on three parent-rated problem measures, and there was a trend for greater improvement of self-concept. Teachers perceived little change in either group. Most GAIT variables were not predictively valid, but empathy predicted relationship quality. The pattern of Goodman's findings for dyad types was repeated in the parent data: Quiet or outgoing children with an outgoing student improved most, and children in a double-quiet dyad improved least. There were relatively few sex differences.Despite the disappointing outcome of the monumental Cambridge-Sommerville study in the 1940s (Powers & Witmer, 1951), there have since been innumerable programs in which young adult volunteers are paired with troubled or potentially troubled children in the hope that the relationship will benefit the child. Among the rationales for this expectation are the potential of the volunteer as an identification figure, the modeling and reinforcement of a sense of competency, and the belief that an empathic relationship is in itself therapeutic. There has been remarkably little controlled evaluation of outcome, undoubtedly because of the difficulty of field research and perhaps also out of fear of again damaging the mystique of Big Brother and Big Sister.The most substantial evaluation was done in the mid-1960s by Goodman (1972). Fifth-grade boys judged to be mildly or moderately troubled were assigned to a 9-month compan-
Groups of children served in a lever-pulling experiment in order to determine the secondary reinforcement, cue, and combined secondary reinforcement/cue effects of a light stimulus. On each conditioning trial the light was differentially associated with the presentation of a primary reinforcement. After conditioning, Ss underwent a period of extinction during which time a lever pull resulted in a light or a no-light condition. An evaluation of the number of responses during extinction showed a significant difference between the secondary reinforcing and the cue effects of the light stimulus. The discussion covered a need for adequate experimental controls in studies attempting to show a "real" secondary reinforcement effect.
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