NIDA - Publications - NIDA Notes - Vol. 23, No. 1 - Research Findings

Behavior Game Played in Primary Grades Reduces
Later Drug-Related Problems Research Findings
Vol. 23, No. 1 (April 2010)

Positive effects are most pronounced in disruptive boys.
By NIDA Notes Staff

Awarding smiley-face stickers to teams of first-graders in Baltimore for the good behavior of the individual team members greatly increased the likelihood that the students would experience an adolescence free of substance abuse and dependence. Teachers gave out the stickers and other token rewards and penalties in the Good Behavior Game (GBG), a classroom activity designed to inculcate appropriate behavior during children's first 2 years in school.

"The GBG gives teachers an effective method of managing behavior in the classroom and of teaching children how to be students," says Dr. Sheppard Kellam of the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C.

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NIDA - Publications - NIDA Notes - Vol. 23, No. 1 - Research Findings