Rachel H. Thompson & Brian A. Iwata (2007).
A comparison of outcomes from descriptive and functional analyses of problem behavior.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
40, 333-338.
We compared results of descriptive and functional analyses of problem behavior for
12 participants whose descriptive data have been reported previously (Thompson &
Iwata, 2001). Results indicated that in only 3 of the 12 cases was problem behavior
maintained by the consequence observed most frequently during the descriptive analysis.
Attention was the most common consequence for problem behavior during descriptive
analyses for 8 of the 12 participants; however, maintenance of problem behavior by attention
was evident for only 2 of these 8 participants.
DESCRIPTORS: aggression, assessment, descriptive analysis, functional analysis, self-injurious behavior