Home-Based Treatment of Disruptive Junior High School Students: An Analysis of the Differential Effects of Positive and Negative Consequences

The effects of two types of home-based treatments designed to reduce the school problems of disruptive junior high school students were investigated. Ten disruptive students were randomly assigned to the two treatments: One program instructed parents to use only positive consequences in response to daily reports brought home from school and the other had parents use a combination of positive and negative consequences. The students whose parents delivered both positive and negative consequences demonstrated a significant decrease from pre- to posttreatment in their rate of referrals to the office for conduct problems. This group also showed a significant pre- to posttreatment decrease in their depression scores on the Children's Depression Inventory. The students whose parents delivered only positive consequences showed no significant pre- to posttreatment changes on these measures. These results are discussed in terms of the importance of “prudent” (calm, concrete, and consistent) negative consequences for the home-based treatment of students with behavior problems.