What does maintenance in behavior change refer to?

• A. The rate of responding in a novel environment.
• B. The acquisition of new skills.
• C. The continued performance of a target behavior after reinforcement or treatment has ended.
• D. The decrease of a behavior after treatment ends.

Answer: (C)

Maintenance is the continued performance of a target behavior after reinforcement or treatment has ended. It shows whether the behavior persists over time without ongoing reinforcement. For example, after teaching a child to raise their hand to request help and fading out reinforcement, we look to see if hand-raising continues days or weeks later. This differs from acquiring a new skill (initial learning) and from generalization (the behavior occurring in new settings or with new people). It also differs from a decrease in behavior after treatment ends, which would indicate the behavior isn’t being maintained. Measurement involves checking the behavior at a follow-up interval after reinforcement is withdrawn to see if it remains at the end-of-treatment levels.