A FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF RESISTANCE DURING PARENT TRAINING THERAPY

A decade of programmatic studies of resistance during parent training therapy is reviewed, including a brief description of a procedure deve loped for coding resistant behavior. Analyses of sequential interactio ns during treatment show that therapists' efforts to intervene produce d immediate parental resistance. From baseline to midtreatment phases, there were increases in the therapists' efforts to intervene, which w ere in turn accompanied by increases in parental resistance. Contextua l variables such as parent pathology also correlated with higher level s of resistance. Decreases in resistance were associated with improvem ents in parental discipline practices. Parental resistance altered the behavior of the therapists, reducing their effectiveness. A regressio n analysis shows that improvements in discipline predicted fewer futur e arrests and out-of-home placement.