At-Risk Juveniles
Managing the Behavior of At-risk Juveniles Using Job Card
Grounding and a Token Economy
Theory and Background
A main concern of parents, foster parents and practitioners everywhere is how to
effectively manage the behavior of adolescents. This becomes compounded when dealing with
adolescents who have been involved in the criminal justice system. How can one in a therapeutic
setting establish rules and maintain order? The answer lies in effective contingency management.
Recent research has shown that children and adolescents in stable, consistent, and predictable
environments tend to have fewer behavioral problems (Christophersen & Mortweet, 2003).
These types of environments become more imperative when attempting to manage the behavior
of adolescents who have conduct problems and have had previous legal problems. The use of
contingency management has been proven to provide such desirable environments in schools,
residential homes, and institutional settings. Contingency management involves a stimulus being
added or removed contingent upon a target behavior (Miltenberger, 2001). The stimulus can be
contingent upon a desirable behavior, such as completing household chores, or an undesirable
behavior, such as arguing. The stimulus could be positive or negative, as well as punishing or
rewarding. Contingency management, when done correctly, allows the child to know what he or
she is supposed to do and provides an immediate consequence or reward upon observation of the
target behavior. Time-out, an effective way of controlling undesirable behavior in children, is not
considered appropriate for children over the age of eleven (Eaves, Sheperis, Blanchard, Baylot,
& Doggett, 2005). A practical alternative to time-out for adolescents is Job Card Grounding
(JCG). JCG is very similar to time-out in that it “…aids parents in developing a consistent plan
of discipline while placing the control of the frequency and duration of the discipline directly on
the adolescent” (Eaves et al., 2005, p. 257). Currently, JCG has not been empirically validated.
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Convention