Children's Involvement in Intervention Selection. Acceptability of Interventions for Misbehaving Peers

Children's involvement in the selection and evaluation of psychological interventions has been the exception rather than the rule. For ethical and pragmatic reasons, children should participate in treatment decisions and activities on a level commensurate with their maturity. The present two experiments documented sixth graders' suggestions for treating peers' classroom misbehaviors and, more important, their acceptance of different teacher-implemented interventions for modifying two behavior problems. The main finding was that these students differentially rated the acceptability of 12 common interventions. From among three categories of interventions, students rated private teacher-student interactions, group reinforcement, and negative sanctions for the misbehaving children as most acceptable. Public reprimand and negative group contingencies were rated as unacceptable interventions. A discussion of methodological, theoretical, and developmental considerations in treatment acceptability concludes the article.