Child behavior therapists have concentrated largely on the study of family conflict in conduct-problem children. Positive interactions, such as play and conversation, and the impact these might have on problem behavior have been neglected in theoretical work, although some therapists (e.g., Sanders & Dadds, 1982) have paid attention to alternative family activities. In this study a sample of preschool conduct-problem children not only fought more with their mothers but also were quite deficient in all kinds of positive activities, compared to their normal counterparts. This result supports the notion that young conduct-problem children may be missing out on certain forms of harmonious experience with their mothers, which might otherwise help to prevent conflict. It is argued that the quality of these positive processes, like the better-known coercive ones (Patterson, 1982), demands further study, to broaden our theories and therapies for conduct problems.
This work was supported by the Medical Research Council of Great Britain and forms part of a Ph.D. awarded by Oxford University to the author. I am particularly indebted to Dr. K. D. Sylva for her helpful suggestions, and to Prof. P. E. Bryant, who assisted during the early stages of this research.