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between groups (McIntyre et al., 1983; Lobitz & Johnson, 1975). Robinson and Eyberg (1981) found that total inappropriate behaviors (i.e., cry, whine, yell, smart talk, destructive) were 1.16 in ten minutes for normal children and 6.65 in ten minutes for behavior problem children. Forster, Eyberg, and Burns (1990) found that children with conduct problem behavior issued more commands during the Child Directed Interaction (CDI) than non-referred children. Children who issue numerous commands during play may appear "bossy" to others, which could have a negative impact on the child's social interactions (Forster et al., 1990). Bessmer (1996) found that clinic-referred children averaged approximately 31 inappropriate behaviors in the 15-minute observation period while the non-referred children engaged in an average of 10 inappropriate behaviors in the same length of time.
The findings related to whether children with behavior problems display fewer
prosocial behaviors compared to normal children are mixed. Lobitz and Johnson (1975) found that the proportion of child positive valence behaviors (i.e., laugh, approval, attention, talk, nonverbal interaction, and independent activity) to total child behavior discriminated between children with and without behavior problems. Forster et al. (1990) noted that children with behavior problems were less likely to use positive verbalizations, such as praise of the parent. However, Patterson (1976) did not find codable differences in the prosocial behaviors of conduct-problem children. Bessmer (1996) found that clinicreferred and non-referred children did not differ in prosocial behaviors when they interacted with their mothers.