A battery of measures was used to assess conflict between mothers and young adolescents (females and males, 11 to 15 years of age). Two groups of families, one composed of a distressed clinical sample (N = 38), the other a nondistressed normative sample (N = 40), participated. The assessment battery included retrospective judgments, frequency estimates, self-monitored home recording, and tape-recorded discussion of a home problem. Content of assessment measures tapped aspects of parental control, decisionmaking, self-reported interaction behavior, arguments, interaction behavior rated by independent "blind" observers, frequency and anger-intensity of specific problematic issues, and perceptions of positive and negative behaviors of the other family member. Based on univariate analyses, 21 of the 26 defined variables discriminated significantly in the predicted direction. Maternal and adolescent reports of behavior and independent ratings of tape-recorded interaction emerged as strong and consistent discriminators.Stepwise multivariate discriminant analysis provided successful classification of 100% of the families based on the inclusion of nine variables. In a cross-validation sample, 84% of the families were correctly classified. Implications for systematic outcome research as well as clinical application are discussed.

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Reliability of observational data was measured simultaneously by two assessors under two experimental conditions. During overt assessment, observers were told that reliability would be measured by one of the two assessors, thus permitting computation of reliability with an identified and an unidentified assessor. During covert assessment, observers were not informed of the reliability measured. Throughout the study, each of the assessors employed a unique version of a standard observational code. In the overt assessment condition, reliability of observers with the identified assessor was consistently higher than reliability with the unidentified assessor, indicating that observers modified their observational criteria to approximate those of the identified assessor. In the covert assessment condition, reliability with the two assessors was substantially lower than during overt assessment. Further, observers consistently recorded lower frequencies of disruptive behavior than the two assessors during covert assessment.

A behavioral intervention program for conduct problem children with both behavioral and academic difficulties in elementary school was evaluated. Subjects were randomly assigned to treatment (n -16) and a "no-contact" control group (n -16). A standardized 20-hour treatment program involving the child, his parents, and his teacher was provided by PhD clinical psychologists. Both observational recordings and teacher ratings of social and academic behavior demonstrated that significantly greater behavioral improvement had occurred for treated than for control children. However, at a 9-month follow-up, the control group had improved sufficiently that these differences in social behavior were no longer significant. Although no differences existed between treated and untreated children in achievement test performance or grades at termination, follow-up revealed that the treated subjects had significantly better achievement scores and grades 9 months after termination. Ratings of therapists by teachers and parents were uniformly positive, and there were no dropouts during the 3-4-month course of treatment.Recent reviews have unequivocally documented the efficacy of behavior modification procedures with a variety of child problems in the home (Patterson, 1969;Wahler, 1976) and classroom (O'Leary & O'Leary, 1976). The effects of such interventions are substantial and replicable, providing strong support for the efficacy of a behavioral approach to child treatment. However, the context of most behavioral treatment investigations may have contributed substantially to the positive outcomes reported. In general, the effects of specific behavioral intervention