School-wide behavior problems can vary significantly from structured to unstructured settings. Often problem behaviors can spike during unstructured times such as lunch and recess and the use of Tier 1 positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) can be used to reduce student behavior problems in these settings. Using a token economy as an…

Bystanders play a key role in understanding the phenomenon of cyberbullying (CB). The main aim of this study is to explore longitudinal bidirectional relationships among cyberbystanders' reaction, CB perpetration, and CB justification. Participants were 1,105 adolescents (56.7% girls; M[subscript age] = 13.56, SD = 1.21) who answered self-reported…

Effectively coping with peer victimization may be facilitated by deploying attention away from threat (i.e., bullies, reinforcers) and toward available support (e.g., defenders). To test this premise, 72 early adolescents (38 girls; M[subscript age] = 11.67, SD = 8.14 months) watched video clips of youth actors portraying a bully aggressing…

The aim of the current study was to examine whether moral disengagement and defender self-efficacy at individual level and collective efficacy to stop peer aggression at classroom level were associated with defending and reinforcing in school bullying situations in late childhood. Self-reported survey data were collected from 1060 Swedish students…

This study focuses on the relationship between reinforcement sensitivity and aggression according to the combination of forms and functions of aggression (i.e. proactive overt, proactive relational, reactive overt and reactive relational), and on the moderating role of gender in this relationship. The survey included 656 adolescents (55.33% male)…

Members (behaviors) of a response class are equivalent in that they produce the same functional reinforcer. Oftentimes, some members of a response class occur at higher rates than others. This can be problematic when the members that occur at high rates are socially inappropriate (e.g., self-injury, aggression, or disruption). The participant in…

Spanking and parental verbal aggression are potentially toxic stressors that can negatively affect children's academic achievement by disrupting mental skills like executive function. Yet little empirical evidence has been provided for this mediating pathway. This study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort of…

Demand fading, a schedule thinning procedure for escape-maintained behaviors, typically includes an escape extinction component. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of demand fading with alternative reinforcement utilizing concurrent reinforcement schedules without extinction. During demand fading, aggression and requests…

Three generations of developmental epidemiologically based randomized field trials of the Good Behavior Game (GBG) have been delivered to Baltimore elementary schools. With the collaboration of family and community partners, all three trials were directed at decreasing proximal targets of aggressive behavior and improving learning in first-grade…

Limited information is available concerning the specificity of the forms and functions of aggressive behavior exhibited by boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS). To investigate these relationships, we conducted indirect functional assessments of aggressive behavior exhibited by 41 adolescent boys with FXS and 59 age and symptom-matched controls with…

Problem behavior occurring during public outings can limit children's participation in these activities and can be disruptive for families. The current study included two children referred for the assessment and treatment of problem behaviors occurring during public outings. Clinic-based functional behavior assessments indicated problem behaviors…

Background: Challenging behaviour, such as self-injury and physical aggression, is an issue of concern regarding a high proportion of individuals with fragile X syndrome. The aim of this review was to provide a comprehensive overview of the topographies and operant functions of challenging behaviours within the syndrome. Method: Five electronic…

We conducted 2 studies to determine whether dense and thin NCR schedules exert different influences over behavior and whether these influences change as dense schedules are thinned. In Study 1, we observed that thin as well as dense NCR schedules effectively decreased problem behavior exhibited by 3 individuals. In Study 2, we compared the effects…

Being surrounded by peers who are accepting of aggression is a significant predictor of the development and persistence of aggression in childhood and adolescence. Whereas past research has focused on social reinforcement mechanisms as the underlying processes, the present longitudinal study analysed the role of external control beliefs as an…

Separate lines of research find that proaggressive attitudes promote peer aggression and that bystanders play a pivotal role in deterring or facilitating bullying behavior. The current study hypothesized that proaggressive attitudes in middle school would deter students from standing up to bullying and encourage them to reinforce bullying…