A Comparison of the Positive and Negative Consequences Approaches Upon Car Restraint Usage

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Abstract
The effectiveness of prenatal intervention via a positive and/or negative consequences approach on parental use of infant car restraints during the infant's first 6 months of life was assessed. A total of 30 middle-class Caucasian women in their last trimester were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: positive consequences group (i.e., modified version of Christophersen and Gyulay's [1981] written protocol describing positive benefits of restraint use and behavior modification strategies to facilitate use), negative consequences group (i.e., 5-min fear-inducement car safety film), and a combination of both interventions. Follow-up involved unobtrusive observation of mothers' correct restraint use on seven postnatal visits. Based upon Janis and Mann's (1977) conflict theory of decision making it was predicted that the combination approach would prove most successful. Results indicated high overall usage across treatments (i.e., mean usage rates: combination 93.43%, positive consequences 84%, and negative consequences, 81.29%) with the combination approach providing significantly more effective than the negative consequence approach. The high compliance rates are discussed.