Presents a short-form scale called the Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA) designed for use in clinical settings to monitor and evaluate progress in treatment. Presents detailed findings concerning the reliability and validity of the ISA, along with details concerning the administration, scoring, and interpretation of the scale. (Author/RC)

Compared changes in self-perceived levels of solitary, social, physical, and cultural activities among recent retirees with changes among continuing workers. Findings reflect a relative continuity in perception of leisure activity levels. Retirees did not see themselves as being more involved in leisure activities than their working peers.…

Offers a positive perspective on the devolution of delinquency. Examines life experiences involved in delinquency devolution of one former juvenile offender and argues for a less pathological perspective of human behavior. Presents an alternative approach, "Positive Outcomes Research." (Author/JAC)

Studied the use of a social learning approach to reduce the unpopularity of an 11-year-old girl. Used a multiple baseline design to successively implement reinforcement contingencies on each class of social skill. Substantial improvements in performance were noted. Sociometric ratings of popularity by others improved after intervention. (Author/RC)

The symptoms of stress are outlined; misconceptions about stress and techniques used in stress management are discussed; and managers' role in stress management is explained. (MLF)

Human performance on verbal and spatial matching tasks was assessed every 15 minutes for eight hours. Significant 90- to 100-minute oscillations were observed for each task. It was also found that increases in performance on one task are accompanied by decreases on the other. (HM)

Describes a short-term behaviorally-oriented treatment program for parent-adolescent conflict designed to teach family members effective skills for seeking independence, methods of communicating without antagonizing and alienating, methods for resolving specific issues, ways of identifying and restructuring inappropriate attitudes, and methods for…

Evaluated strategies for enhancing treatment maintenance: behavior problem solving and faded counselor contact. Volunteer college students concerned about academic underachievement participated. Results indicated training in problem solving was effective treatment maintenance strategy, while brief fading procedure was not. Treatment effects may…

Preliminary test results indicate that the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) Demonstration Alcohol Education Project was successful in increasing student knowledge about drinking, changing behaviors that promote alcohol use, and promoting responsible decision making about alcohol use. (CJ)

Investigates the effectiveness of a creativity training workshop. Results indicate training for creativity in one area, unusual uses, can transfer to responding in another area, problem solutions. Suggests operationally defined creative responses can be increased by behavioral techniques and may transfer to other settings. (JAC)

The program was developed to minimize classroom disruptions which often occur when a behavior problem student (9 to 13 years old) from a special education homeroom is placed in the mainstream. The program also was designed to encourage on task performance and work completion both in the homeroom and mainstream settings through reinforcement for…

Anxiety is a critical factor present in initiating and maintaining drug-dependent behavior. This study examines test anxiety to determine if behavioral approach can be applied to treatment of test anxiety in a vocational rehabilitation program for drug abuse clients. Results indicate treatment strategies selected were effective in reducing…

No significant differences between beginning and advanced clients of either school were found. Clients from the two schools differed significantly from each other, however, and appeared to be drawn to a theory by their personality. (Author)

Results illustrate the usefulness of a conceptual model for assessing the interrelationships among pretreatment, and posttreatment variables and outcome. This approach facilitates the unraveling of these complex interrelationships by allowing for examination of the cumulative influences of prior variables on subsequent variables. (Author/BEF)

Presents a therapeutic procedure designed to prescribe the family's troublesome behavior pattern. A complement precedes delivering a task assignment. The metaphorical task redefines the serious complaint pattern into only one of the many options a family has for dealing with each other. A case study is presented. (Author/BEF)