Generalization of Social Skills across Settings: An Investigation of Positive Peer Reporting Interventions with Interdependent Group Contingencies

Some researchers have found Social Skills Training (SST) does not produce long-lasting, meaningful, generalized results. This dissertation is comprised of two studies investigating the effects of a packaged Positive Peer Reporting (PPR) on the generalization of students’ social skill behavior. In Study I, we used a withdrawal design to investigate the effects of a packaged PPR intervention on the compliment-giving behavior of students in a first-grade classroom. Students were taught how to give a compliment, and how to report peers’ compliment-giving behavior during a small group math activity. An interdependent group contingency was incorporated into the intervention. Results showed that the intervention was successful in increasing the compliment-giving behavior of students’ class wide. However, the study only focused on one social skill and contained multiple components within the intervention. Study II was designed to evaluate the effects of a PPR intervention on the generalization of multiple social skill behaviors concurrently. We used a multiple baseline design to investigate the effects of the PPR intervention on the compliment-giving, encouragement statements, and thank you behaviors of a first-grade class. Students were given a social skills lesson on all behaviors. After completing baseline data collection, students were taught how to peer report on each target social skill during small group play at a Lego©/ K’Nex© station. Each target behavior was added into the intervention in a staggered, sequential fashion by using randomly- selected criteria. Results showed that the intervention was successful in increasing multiple social skills concurrently. Overall, our findings demonstrate that PPR may be an effective intervention for increasing social skills in students in generalized settings. Changing the environment in order to support the generalization of social skills and providing high rates of reinforcement appears to be an essential component. Discussion focuses on limitations to the current research and implications for future researchers.