Working at summer camp shows children’s best and worst behavior. One day during the summer an 8 year old named Brandon had an “accident” and hid his poopy clothes in another child's laundry bag in an effort to frame him. Bad behavior like this is not common, however, there is always of possibility for it to occur. Forehand et al. conducted a behavior modification study that examines the behavior of children whose parents have read Parenting the Strong Willed Child. The study proves that there is a positive correlation between children’s good behavior and parents that have read Parenting the Strong Willed Child and been educated on children’s behavior.
Forehand et al. has done significant work before in the child behavior field, even writing the the book Parenting the Strong Willed Child. He has also done several other studies before to back up this current study. Extremely limited outside sources besides his own study calls into question the overall legitimacy of his approach, but the final data correlates well with his original hypothesis so this concern may be able to be dismissed. Forehand et al. developed a three intensity intervention program depending on child behavior. The three stages are individual counseling with a social worker, group counseling with a social worker, and parent self-administered programs. This study uses the Group Counseling (GC) method. Overall the point of this study is to back up Forehand et al.’s book with scientific data to increase its sales and legitimacy. This study is not independent from outside interests.
This study employs Group Counseling and literature as its method of educating parents on child behavior and parent reactions. The parents were first randomized into control and GC groups. The control was told the study would start in 7 weeks to make them blind to the fact they were the control. The GC group attended 6 2 hour meetings weekly to learn the correct behaviors. Both groups called into an anonymous phone line to report how they felt as parents and how their child’s behavior changed throughout the week. The study also did an evaluation before and after the study to see overall change. Finally there was a 2 month post evaluation to see if the behavior changes were temporary or not. The study used multiple scales to evaluate results. First the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory was used to measure child behavior. The Parent Recorded Behavior scale worked to record which behavior was worst among individual children. The last scale was the Parent Behavior which measured how well parents responded to bad behavior.
The study obtained data from both the GC group and the control group in order to compare the change in each group from the beginning of the study till the end. Child problem behavior was measured by Eyberg intensity and Eyberg problem. Eyberg intensity showed that the treatment group started at 134.44 and decreased all the way to 112.39. The control group started at 129.53 and decreased only slightly to 125.10. The Eyberg problem scale showed more dramatic change. The treatment group at first scored a 14.18 on average, but after completing the course scored a 8.20. The control group first scored a 12.88 on average, and with no training scored a 12.52 on follow up. All the other scales and qualitative measurements aligned with these first two results.
This study’s result offer firm back up in support of Forehand et.al’s book on parenting for troubled children. The group counciling and reading of specific chapters in the book clearly gave parents an edge in improving their child's behavior. This lead to happier and more incontrol parents. The parents reported a average level of satisfaction being 6 out of 7 for the book they read during the study. Parents greatly enjoyed the change it brought in their child. This satisfaction and reduction in bad behavior was not temporary though, at a two month post check up all the parents still reported improved behavior and were still satisfied with the program and book. This indicates a lasting behavioral change in the parent’s parenting technique. The lasting change is further support to use Forehand et. al’s book as a support tool to parent strong willed children.
Forehand et al’s study of parenting strong willed children is an exellent example of behavior modification being used to back up an instructional book. This study proves that the book offers good advice and may stop doubts in purchasing of it. The evidence and quantitative data is concusive and inarguable. Overall the only doubt can be cast when one considers that the author of the book also was the one who headed the study. An independent researcher would have made the results more legitamente.
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