Long-Term Follow-Up of Behavior Modification With High-Risk Adolescents

Abstract

This investigation reports on follow-up information received from past participants of a school-based social learning program designed for problem adolescents. The follow-up occurred approximately five years after the students' participation in the program. The attitudes and performance of 15 of the original 24 adolescents were assessed on a range of self-report measures, incorporating variables such as their employment and educational status, evaluation of program participation, involvement in leisure-time and community activities, relationships with family and friends, and anticipated aversive consequences of engaging in delinquent acts. Issues of importance to the execution of follow-up studies are reviewed. Data resulting from this pilot study fail to conclusively demonstrate the long-term merits of the behavioral program with this population.

An Action Assembly Perspective on Social Skill

“…The relatively common experience of formulating messages at some later point that are "better" than the message we actually gave makes clear that adequate knowledge and motivation do not insure optimal performance. Instead, despite our ability and motivation to perform more effectively, our message behavior is characterized by a variety of errors, oversights, arid omissions, ranging from slips of the tongue (see Fromkin, 1980) to failures to implement social skills one has been trained to employ (see Bagarozzi, 1985;Bellack, Hersen & Turner, 1978;McCombs, Filipczak, Friedman & Wodarsi, 1978).…”

Issues in Multivariate Assessment of a Large‐scale Behavioral Program

“…The Rosenberg is a 10-item Guttman scale, proven reproducible and scalable, and is designed to assess the extent to which an individual rates his self-esteem in reference to others. Students who participated in the laboratory program indicated a high level of personal satisfaction at follow-up (McCombs et al, 1978), but, once again, no comparisons could be made.…”

“…For each of the follow-ups, information on class grades and school year completed has been gathered. An initial four-year follow-up on the laboratory program provided evidence of favorable treatment outcomes for overall progress in school grade completions (McCombs, Filipczak, Friedman, and Wodarski, 1978). For example, selfreport information from students indicated that 53% of the follow-up group had completed high school and that two (13%) of these students were then enrolled in college.…”

“…As seen in Table 5, students in the laboratory follow-up completed the scale, but comparisons with control groups were not possible (McCombs et al, 1978).…”

The Effective Social Worker

“…Follow-up data collected five years later on antisocial children who participated in a twelve-month behavior modification program, which produced extremely impressive behavioral changes in the children, indicate that virtually none of the positive changes were maintained (McCombs,Filipczak,Rusilko,Kouteris,&Wodarski, 1977;McCombs, Filipczak, Friedman, & Wodarski, 1978). Possibly, maintenance could be improved when change is also directed at macro levels.…”