South Africa has a fast-growing HIV/AIDS rate, with the highest prevalence among young people (15 to 24 years), especially females. This paper is a comprehensive analytical review of available research concerning the sexual behavior of adolescents in South Africa. It offers insight into HIV infection among adolescents and provides an important…

The duration or magnitude of reinforcement has varied and often appears to have been selected arbitrarily in functional analysis research. Few studies have evaluated the effects of reinforcement magnitude on problem behavior, even though basic findings indicate that this parameter may affect response rates during functional analyses. In the…

This paper reviews several genetic syndromes that are associated with intellectual disability. The specific focus is on the behavioural patterns associated with the syndrome. Included in this review are the patterns of disruptive behaviour disorders associated with Fragile X, Prader-Willi, and Williams syndromes. Understanding and recognition of…

School phobia affects about 5% of the school-age population. If left untreated, school phobia can have devastating long-term consequences in children challenged by this condition. Various treatment approaches have been used to explore this complex behavioural response, major among them being the psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, pharmacological and…

This article illustrates a proactive strategy, precorrection, for addressing problem academic and social behaviors with students. Practical classroom scenarios are provided to give teachers a step-by-step guide of how to implement this seven-step preventative strategy. Empirical support for and the benefits of precorrection also are discussed.…

In a previous issue of "The Behavior Analyst," the authors discussed the ambiguities that surround the distinction between positive and negative reinforcement. Seven distinguished behavior analysts commented on their article. The authors believe that this dialogue represented a constructive step toward clarification of an important concept within…

Objective: This pilot study tests the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of an after-school treatment program for middle schoolers with ADHD using a randomized clinical trial design. Method: A total of 23 students with ADHD (25% female, 48% African American) from a large public middle school were randomly assigned to a 10-week program or to…

Negative stress in physical education can reduce a student's enjoyment of physical activity and destroy the individual's desire to be a lifelong mover. The purpose of this article is to explore the concept of stress in physical education. Stress is defined as a substantial imbalance between the demand of a situation and the individual's capability…

The parent-child parallel group Anger Coping Training (ACT) program aimed to help reactively aggressive children in restructuring cognitive characteristics, so as to reduce childhood aggression. This research program involved experimental and control groups with pre- and postcomparison. Qualitative data were collected through 367 individual…

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) has been implemented in more than 4,000 schools as a means of addressing problem behavior in a systemic fashion. Preliminary outcomes (e.g., office discipline referrals, suspensions) indicate the effectiveness of SWPBS in decreasing school-wide behavior problems and creating a positive school climate.…

This paper argues that using the notion of ambivalence in understanding ethnic hatred can be helpful to educators who struggle to address the pedagogical implications of students' feelings of hatred. It is suggested that, although hate feelings are difficult to change, unraveling the ambivalence in the affective politics of hatred creates…

The commonalities between anxiety and depression have been discussed before, but few have delineated the potentially different mechanisms through which treatments work for these populations. The current study conducted a comprehensive review of child and adolescent randomized clinical trials that tested cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for…

This paper describes a comprehensive approach to intervention and support for families of children experiencing traumatic brain injury (TBI) and behavior problems. It explains the need for child- and family-centered intervention approaches, discusses the theoretical basis and key features of one approach, summarizes the steps in the support…

This study examines the effects of using response cost in combination with positive reinforcement procedures in helping two second grade students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder maintain their attention in the classroom. This involved the loss of reinforcers/points contingent upon inappropriate behavior in the classroom, in addition…

Theory is a useful guide for program design and implementation. This paper uses a large-scale school-based delinquency prevention project to illustrate the use of theory in program design and the need for line staff to have a clear understanding of the program's theoretical underpinnings. Evaluation results for the program show that the program…