Evaluating the stability of preference over time in individuals with autism spectrum disorder

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2018

First Committee Member

Graff, Richard B.

Second Committee Member

Karsina, Allen

Third Committee Member

Pinkston, Jonathan

Abstract

"Behavior analysts have developed an extensive technology of assessing preferences, but little research has evaluated the extent to which preferences change over time. Zhou Iwata, Goff, and Shore (2001) evaluated the stability of preference for leisure items. Twenty-two adults with intellectual disabilities participated in 2 duration-based assessments, 12- to 20-months apart. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate preference stability. The median correlation coefficient across participants was 0.11. Ciccone, Graff, and Ahearn (2007) evaluated stability of preference for edibles with 8 individuals with autism. In Studies 1 and 2, multiple-stimulus without replacement assessments were conducted 6 and 12 months apart, respectively. The mean Spearman correlation coefficient across participants was 0.66 in Study 1 and 0.46 in Study 2. To date, no studies have assessed stability of preference for social stimuli. In this study, we conducted monthly paired-stimulus edible, tangible, and social preference assessments and bimonthly reinforcer assessments over a one-year period with 4 individuals with developmental disabilities. Across participants, short-term (i.e., month to month) preference was most stable for edible items (mean Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient = 0.79), and less stable for tangible (mean=0.66) and social stimuli (mean=0.50). Long-term stability of preference was evaluated by comparing the results of the first preference assessment to the results of the final assessment, conducted 12 months later. Across participants, long-term stability of preference was 0.63 for edible items, 0.33 for social stimuli, and 0.19 for tangibles. For all participants, edible items were associated with the highest response rates during reinforcer assessments."

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