Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis logoLink to Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
. 2004 Summer;37(2):145–157. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2004.37-145

An assessment of antecedent events influencing noncompliance in an outpatient clinic.

Nathan A Call 1, David P Wacker 1, Joel E Ringdahl 1, Linda J Cooper-Brown 1, Eric W Boeiter 1
PMCID: PMC1284490  PMID: 15293634

Abstract

Several studies have shown that various factors can influence noncompliance, including task novelty, rate of presentation, and task preference. This study examined the impact of selected antecedent variables on noncompliance in an outpatient clinic setting. In two experiments involving 6 typically developing children, the consequences for noncompliance remained constant. During Experiment 1, demands that included noncontingent access to adult attention were contrasted with the same demands that did not include attention within a multielement design. In Experiment 2, demands were altered by decreasing the difficulty or amount of work or providing access to attention. In both experiments, results indicated idiosyncratic responses to the manipulated variables, with decreases in noncompliance observed following introduction of one or more antecedent variables with 5 of the 6 participants. These results suggested that noncompliance can be reduced via changes in antecedent variables, including adding potential positive reinforcers to the task situation, and that it is possible to probe variables that alter noncompliance in an outpatient clinic setting.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (118.0 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baer A. M., Rowbury T., Baer D. M. The development of instructional control over classroom activities of deviant preschool children. J Appl Behav Anal. 1973 Summer;6(2):289–298. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1973.6-289. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cooper L. J., Wacker D. P., Thursby D., Plagmann L. A., Harding J., Millard T., Derby M. Analysis of the effects of task preferences, task demands, and adult attention on child behavior in outpatient and classroom settings. J Appl Behav Anal. 1992 Winter;25(4):823–840. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1992.25-823. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ducharme J. M. Behavioral momentum and stimulus fading in the acquisition and maintenance of child compliance in the home. J Appl Behav Anal. 1994 Winter;27(4):639–647. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1994.27-639. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dunlap G., Kern-Dunlap L., Clarke S., Robbins F. R. Functional assessment, curricular revision, and severe behavior problems. J Appl Behav Anal. 1991 Summer;24(2):387–397. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1991.24-387. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Golonka Z., Wacker D., Berg W., Derby K. M., Harding J., Peck S. Effects of escape to alone versus escape to enriched environments on adaptive and aberrant behavior. J Appl Behav Anal. 2000 Summer;33(2):243–246. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2000.33-243. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hagekull B., Bohlin G. Prevalence studies of problematic behaviors in four-year-olds. Scand J Psychol. 1992 Dec;33(4):359–369. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1992.tb00924.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Iwata B. A. Negative reinforcement in applied behavior analysis: an emerging technology. J Appl Behav Anal. 1987 Winter;20(4):361–378. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1987.20-361. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Jason L. A., Liotta R. Pedestrian jaywalking under facilitating and nonfacilitating conditions. J Appl Behav Anal. 1982 Fall;15(3):469–473. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1982.15-469. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lalli J. S., Vollmer T. R., Progar P. R., Wright C., Borrero J., Daniel D., Barthold C. H., Tocco K., May W. Competition between positive and negative reinforcement in the treatment of escape behavior. J Appl Behav Anal. 1999 Fall;32(3):285–296. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1999.32-285. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Laraway Sean, Snycerski Susan, Michael Jack, Poling Alan. Motivating operations and terms to describe them: some further refinements. J Appl Behav Anal. 2003 Fall;36(3):407–414. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2003.36-407. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. McComas J. J., Lalli J. S., Benavides C. Increasing accuracy and decreasing latency during clean intermittent self-catheterization procedures with young children. J Appl Behav Anal. 1999 Summer;32(2):217–220. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1999.32-217. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. McComas J., Hoch H., Paone D., El-Roy D. Escape behavior during academic tasks: a preliminary analysis of idiosyncratic establishing operations. J Appl Behav Anal. 2000 Winter;33(4):479–493. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2000.33-479. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Osborne J. G. Free-time as a reinforcer in the management of classroom behavior. J Appl Behav Anal. 1969 Summer;2(2):113–118. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1969.2-113. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Parrish J. M., Cataldo M. F., Kolko D. J., Neef N. A., Egel A. L. Experimental analysis of response covariation among compliant and inappropriate behaviors. J Appl Behav Anal. 1986 Fall;19(3):241–254. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1986.19-241. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Patterson G. R., Reid J. B. Intervention for families of aggressive boys: a replication study. Behav Res Ther. 1973 Nov;11(4):383–394. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(73)90096-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Piazza C. C., Contrucci S. A., Hanley G. P., Fisher W. W. Nondirective prompting and noncontingent reinforcement in the treatment of destructive behavior during hygiene routines. J Appl Behav Anal. 1997 Winter;30(4):705–708. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1997.30-705. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Richman D. M., Wacker D. P., Cooper-Brown L. J., Kayser K., Crosland K., Stephens T. J., Asmus J. Stimulus characteristics within directives: effects on accuracy of task completion. J Appl Behav Anal. 2001 Fall;34(3):289–312. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2001.34-289. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Roane H. S., Fisher W. W., Sgro G. M. Effects of a fixed-time schedule on aberrant and adaptive behavior. J Appl Behav Anal. 2001 Fall;34(3):333–336. doi: 10.1901/jaba.2001.34-333. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Smith R. G. Analysis of establishing operations for self-injury maintained by escape. J Appl Behav Anal. 1995 Winter;28(4):515–535. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1995.28-515. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Strain P. S., Lambert D. L., Kerr M. M., Stagg V., Lenkner D. A. Naturalistic assessment of children's compliance to teachers' requests and consequences for compliance. J Appl Behav Anal. 1983 Summer;16(2):243–249. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1983.16-243. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Taplin P. S., Reid J. B. Changes in parent consequences as a function of family intervention. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1977 Dec;45(6):973–981. doi: 10.1037//0022-006x.45.6.973. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Tavormina J. B., Henggeler S. W., Gayton W. F. Age trends in parental assessments of the behavior problems of their retarded children. Ment Retard. 1976 Feb;14(1):38–39. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wahler R. G. Some structural aspects of deviant child behavior. J Appl Behav Anal. 1975 Spring;8(1):27–42. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1975.8-27. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Wallace M. D., Iwata B. A. Effects of session duration on functional analysis outcomes. J Appl Behav Anal. 1999 Summer;32(2):175–183. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1999.32-175. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Wehman P., McLaughlin P. J. Teachers' perceptions of behavior problems with severely and profoundly handicapped students. Ment Retard. 1979 Feb;17(1):20–21. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Zarcone J. R., Fisher W. W., Piazza C. C. Analysis of free-time contingencies as positive versus negative reinforcement. J Appl Behav Anal. 1996 Summer;29(2):247–250. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1996.29-247. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis are provided here courtesy of Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

RESOURCES