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behavioral problems and their mothers, several distinguishing features of these dyads have been consistently found. The most frequently replicated feature that separates the behavior of children with significant behavior problems from normal children is their rate of noncompliance. In a survey of 43 studies of home observations with conduct disordered children, 77% of the studies used coding systems that included some measure of compliance/noncompliance (McIntyre, Bornstein, Isaacs, & Woody, 1983). In the studies that included a normal comparison group, compliance was found to be significantly different between conduct-disordered and the control children. Griest, Forehand, Wells, and McMahon (1980) found that percent compliance to maternal "alpha" commands (i.e., commands for motoric behavior for which the child has an opportunity to comply) for clinic-referred children was 79.8% compared to 86.2% for the non-referred children (p <.05). Similarly, Robinson and Eyberg (1981) found that children referred for behavior problems had 48% compliance to commands compared to 62% compliance for nonreferred children (p <.01). Bessmer (1996) found that clinic-referred children were compliant with 53% of total maternal commands compared to the non-referred group who were compliant with 75% of total maternal commands (p <.001). In spite of the different methods used to measure compliance, in each of these studies the compliance ratios were significantly different.
Their rate of inappropriate behaviors is another distinguishing feature of children with behavior problems. Robinson and Eyberg (1981) found that the children with behavior problems were more likely to whine and yell than non-referred children. Other investigators have also documented significant differences in the frequency of whining