title: Prevalence of multiply controlled problem behavior.
abstract: We examined articles in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis in which results of functional analyses indicated that problem behavior was maintained by multiple sources of reinforcement. Data for 88 (16.9%) of 521 subjects reported in 168 studies met the criteria for multiple control. Data for 11 subjects (2.1%) involved a single response topography, whereas data for 77 subjects involved multiple, collapsed response topographies (14.8% of the total [521 cases] or 87.5% of the multiple control cases), suggesting that when multiple control is observed, it often may be a by-product of response aggregation during assessment.
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
authors.forename: Gracie A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Beavers
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Iwata
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology