Contingency management in the treatment of adolescent alcohol drinking problems.

Three case studies demonstrated that social and monetary reinforcement for abstinence reduced the rate of excessive alcohol drinking in adolescents. The self-monitoring and extrinsic reinforcement procedures (ABA reversal design) resulted in complete abstinence in a 15-year-old boy with a 10-year history of excessive alcohol abuse and hospitalization for an alcohol-induced psychosis. In the cases of the 13-year-old and 15-year-old girls with extensive alcohol abuse histories, the behavioral interventions decreased the rate of alcohol consumption during treatment phases, but alcohol abuse increased markedly with the removal of the intervention procedures.