Examined the reliability, construct, and concurrent validity of the Parenting Scale (PS), a brief instrument designed to measure dysfunctional parenting practices for parents of young children. In Study 1, 183 primarily African American mothers and their Head Start children completed the PS. The PS, which consists of 3 subscales--Laxness, Overreactivity, and Verbosity--was subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Neither the original 3-factor structure, nor a 2-factor structure consisting of the original Laxness and Overreactivity factors, fit the data. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis yielded a 2-factor solution that was generally consistent with the Overreactivity and Laxness subscales identified by Arnold, O'Leary, Wolff, and Acker (1993). The 2-factor CFA solution was replicated with a sample of 216 similar mothers, and the 5-item Overreactivity and Laxness subscales retained internal consistencies above .70. Analysis of the convergent validity of the modified PS and its 2 subscales revealed moderate associations with measures of permissiveness, authoritarianism, involvement, and limit setting. Scores on the PS were not correlated significantly with measures of social desirability, maternal education level, or parent report of internalizing behavior problems. Concurrent validity evidence was obtained by correlating the PS with measures of parenting satisfaction and support, parenting stress, maternal depression, and measures of externalizing child behavior problems.

Three children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) participated in a summer program designed to evaluate the influence of stimulant medication and a token economy on attentive and disruptive behavior during kickball games. Attentive and disruptive behavior were assessed using an interval coding system, and daily ratings on the ADHD Index of the Conners Teacher Rating Scale-Revised were also obtained. A multielement reversal design was used, and the results indicated that both interventions independently improved attentive behavior and decreased disruptive behavior for the participants. Contrary to other research, when the token economy and medication were compared in isolation, the token system appeared more effective in reducing disruptive behavior for 2 of the 3 participants. In addition, the token system generally enhanced the effects of stimulant medication.

We evaluated the effectiveness of a dentist-implemented behavioral intervention in which brief escape from dental treatment was provided on a regular basis, independent of the child's behavior. Within a multiple baseline design across subjects, 5 children, ages 4 to 7 years, were provided with temporary escape from dental treatment on a fixed-time schedule. The intervals were signaled by an electronic timer worn by the dentist. Clinically significant reductions were observed in physically disruptive behavior across all 5 children with the introduction of noncontingent escape, and verbally disruptive behavior was markedly reduced in 4 of the 5 children. In addition, the dental staff s use of physical restraint was reduced to near zero across all 5 children. The research extends the literature in both clinical dentistry and in applied behavior analysis by demonstrating that a dentist can easily and effectively implement noncontingent reinforcement to produce clinically significant and socially important changes in children's health behavior.

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Five children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder participated in a summer program designed to evaluate behavioral and pharmacological treatments in a recreational setting. The effect of a contingency for increased sportsmanlike behavior, with and without the use of tokens, was examined during kickball games. The influence of stimulant medication was also examined for 3 of the children. A multiple-baseline, reversal design revealed that a delayed reward condition did not increase sportsmanlike behavior, whereas the addition of tokens (and praise) to the delayed reward increased sportsmanlike behavior for all 5 participants. Stimulant medication appeared to have very little influence on sportsmanlike behavior. Future directions for behavioral social skills interventions using a sports skills model are also discussed.