important because it allows for the operation of the center to function in a manner that controls the youngster's behavior. In other words, the operation of the center is structured such that the child is encouraged to control his or her impulses rather than to act them out.
When the residential center's structure, policy, routines, etc. fail to stop the child from acting out disturbed impulses, steps must be taken to negatively reinforce the behavior. With emotionally disturbed children, a variety of actions can be taken to punish the child as a method of negative reinforcement, one of which is the method of physical restraint that is proposed for study here.
As noted in the introductory statement, the center that will be examined in this study had noticed that during holidays the need for physical restraint in children increased. It can be noted that several researchers have observed that holidays (and sometimes even weekends) are often accompanied by an increase incidence of acting-out behavior at residential treatment facilities; and that this increased incidence of acting-out is, in turn, followed by an increased use of some form of punishment (e.g. Hobbs, 1966; Weinstein, 1969).
The purpose of the proposed study is to determine factors that may be associated with this holiday increase in the need for child restraint at the treatment facility of research interest. To this end, an extensive review of the literature on the need for punishment in residential treatment centers and the increase in this need over periods of holiday will be examined.
Also, certain observations have been informally noted at the center itself; for example, it has been noted that routines change over the holidays and that center staff appear to be lethargic and/or homesick on these days. Such observations along with factors mentioned in the literature as crucial to
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