Date of Award

Summer 8-2014

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Daniel Tingstrom

Committee Chair Department

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Brad Dufrene

Committee Member 2 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Keith Radley

Committee Member 3 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 4

Sara Jordan

Committee Member 4 Department

Psychology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the interdependent group contingency procedure known as the Good Behavior Game (GBG) with upper-level (i.e., 10th, 11th, and 12th grade) general education high school students utilizing a changing criterion design. The effectiveness of the GBG has been investigated with a variety of behaviors across many developmental levels; however, limited research has been done at the high school level. To date, only a few studies have examined the effectiveness of the GBG with a general education high school population, one with a single 9th grade classroom (Kleinman & Saigh, 2011) and one unpublished thesis utilizing an ABAB design across three high school classrooms, consisting mostly of 9th grade students (Mitchell, 2012). The present study adds to the literature base of the GBG by extending the versatility of the GBG to a broader age range of general education high school population with specific attention paid to older students as well as the criterion component of the GBG. These effects were evaluated across three classrooms, which all demonstrated decreases in disruptive behaviors during intervention phases (which were affected by the criterion level) as well as increases in academic engagement. Additionally, teachers found the GBG/TC to be acceptable for use in their classrooms. These results support the use of a modified version of the GBG in high school classrooms.

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