THE GENERALIZATION MAP REVISITED - ASSESSMENT OF GENERALIZED TREATMENT EFFECTS IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR-THERAPY

Drabman, Hammer, and Rosenbaum (1979) proposed a conceptual framework to categorize the generalized effects of child and adolescent behavior therapy. To determine the current status of generalization in the child behavior therapy literature, we conducted a review of 15,141 articles that appeared in 28 journals over the past 12 years. Results indicted that: (a) of the 904 behavioral treatment studies 424 (46.9%) presented generalization data, (b) of these studies, the majority did not meet specified experimental review criteria (e.g., maintenance of treatment gains at six-month followup), (c) the generalization map categories of time, maintenance, setting, and setting-time were the most frequently encountered, (d) there was a statistically significant increase in reported instances of one generalization map code (maintenance) over the last 10 years when compared with data for the 1960-1977 period, and (e) generalization data were found for 15 of the 16 map classes which were conceptually linked to molar classes of behavioral responding. © 1991 Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy. All rights reserved.