The revised conners parent rating scale: Factor structure replication with a diversified clinical sample

The Revised Conners Teacher Rating Scale was completed as part of a comprehensive evaluation of 135 consecutive new patients seen in the Pediatric Neurology Learning Disability Clinic at the Medical College of Georgia. The questionnaires were subjected to principal components analysis with varimax rotation. Item analysis was conducted on the obtained subscales, and convergent validity was determined by correlation with the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist (Quay & Peterson, 1987). Finally, comparisons of the diagnostic groups were carried out across the subscales.I would like to thank Harry Davis, Office of Research Computing and Statistics, Medical College of Georgia, for his invaluable help in carrying out the computer analysis of the data.     

Racial bias in behavioral assessment of children's social skills

The social skills of 20 second- and sixth-grade students were assessed by 20 trained raters using the Social Skills Test for Children (SST-C). Rater and child characteristics were examined to determine whether differences in social skills ratings were due to the race of the rater or the race of the children being rated or due to the interactive effects of these characteristics, which would suggest racial bias in the ratings procedure. The results showed that the race of the rater did affect some behavioral observations. Black raters gave higher scores than white raters on four behavioral categories: response latency, appropriate assertion, effective assertion, and smiling. White raters gave higher scores for head position and gestures. The results of this study replicated earlier findings of significant differences in social skills ratings due to the race and age of the child being rated. The results also showed modest racial bias effects in that black and white raters scored black and white children differentially on two behavioral categories: overall skill ratings and smiling. These results suggested that most behavioral categories of the SST-C were not systematically affected by racial bias. However, the most subjective rating, overall skill, did evidence racial bias effects. This finding is consistent with previous data showing that subjective ratings may be most affected by racial bias.     

Reliability of the social skills rating system in a group of Iranian children

The purpose of this study was to investigate reliability of the Social Skills Rating Systems of Gresham and Elliott for use in Iran. The sample consisted of 304 students aged 6 to 12 years, selected from the elementary schools in Shiraz, Iran. Parents' and teachers' ratings of social skills and behavioural problems and self-rating of social skills were applied in this study. Pearson correlations between parents' and teachers' ratings were low to moderate. Correlations between social skills subdomains and behavioural problems subdomains were low to high. Cronbach coefficients alpha were satisfactory for the two subdomains.     

An investigation into the jumping-to-conclusions bias in social anxiety

‘Jumping-to-Conclusions’ (JTC) is a data-gathering bias characterised by hasty decision-making, and is typically seen in individuals with high levels of delusions or paranoia. JTC has also been found in people with high trait and state anxiety. The present study aimed to explore the relationship between JTC and trait social anxiety and state anxiety, given paranoia is common in both social anxiety and psychotic disorders. One-hundred-and-eighty-six undergraduate students were allocated to a manipulation or control condition, and classified as high or low socially anxious. All participants completed the ‘beads task’ to assess JTC, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (state subscale) to assess state anxiety. Participants in the manipulation condition were given an anxiety-inducing situation. Although the manipulation was effective in inducing state anxiety, there was no significant correlation between JTC and trait or state social anxiety. High socially anxious individuals showed more conservative decision-making than controls over time, which was posited to be caused by inhibited working memory resulting from increased state anxiety.     

Open field investigation of enhancing children's social skills

This study evaluated two approaches directed towards enhancing social skills in groups of first and third grade children. In the behavioral intervention, following collection of baseline data, triads of first and third grade children were taught one of four social skills—either touching, asking questions, sharing or praising. The behavioral intervention consisted of instructions, modeling, behavioral rehearsal, feedback and reinforcement. While increases in social behaviors were noted, follow-up indicated substantial erosion in gains. In the ecological intervention, dramatic increases in sharing were noted for an isolate child after being placed in a group whose members displayed high levels of sharing. The differential effectiveness of behavioral versus ecological approaches in establishing and maintaining behaviors are discussed.     

Development of a rating scale to measure social skills in children: The matson evaluation of social skills with youngsters (MESSY)

The development of a scale for assessing social skills with children is reported. The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) was completed on 744 children between 4 and 18 years of age. A self-report form was completed on 422 children while 322 children were rated on a teacher-report measure using a 5-point Likert-type scale. Analyses included test-retest reliability conducted at a 2-week interval using Pearson correlations, factor-analytic procedures and selected analyses of variance and appropriate post-hoc tests. Implications of present findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Social skills and social phobia: An investigation of DSM-IV subtypes

Social phobia is characterized as pervasive social timidity in social settings. Although much is known about this disorder, aspects of its clinical presentation remain unexplored, in particular characteristics that distinguish the generalized and non-generalized subtypes. For example, it remains unclear whether patients with the non-generalized subtype display social skills deficits in social interactions, and if so, are these deficits clinically, as well as statistically, significant? In this study, adults with either the non-generalized (NGSP; n = 60) or generalized (GSP; n = 119) subtype of social phobia and adults with no psychological disorder (n = 200) completed an extensive behavioral assessment of social skill and social anxiety. As expected, adults with NGSP and GSP reported equal distress and displayed similar rates of avoidance during an Impromptu Speech Task when compared to adults with no disorder. In contrast, the three groups were distinctly different when interacting with another person in various social situations. Adults with NGSP displayed social skill deficits when compared to individuals with no disorder, but they had fewer deficits than the GSP subtype. However, the identified skill deficits were clinically as well as statistically significant only for the GSP subtype. The results are discussed in terms of the contribution of skill deficits to the conceptualization and treatment of social phobia.     

A psychometric evaluation of the social skills rating system in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The social skills rating system (SSRS) was developed to assess social skills of children, as observed by multiple raters (teacher, parent, child). Studies of the SSRS have been conducted with handicapped, mentally retarded and learning disabled children. No studies have reported the psychometric properties of the SSRS in a clinical ADHD sample. This is important, because deficient social functioning is associated with ADHD. The present study assesses the psychometric properties of the teacher, parent and child versions of the SSRS in children with ADHD (n = 123), and normal controls (n = 239). Also, the social skills of children with ADHD, as rated on the SSRS were examined. Results support the factor structure and internal consistency of the original SSRS-teacher version. Moreover, support was found for 3 out of 4 scales of the SSRS-parent version. The factor structure of the SSRS-child version could not be replicated. An explanatory factor analysis on the SSRS-child version yielded two factors. Evidence was found for discriminative ability of the SSRS between normal controls and children with ADHD. Finally, informant agreement between raters was found to be poor.     

Recognition bias for critical faces in social phobia: a replication and extension

Studies using linguistic stimuli have provided little support for explicit memory biases among individuals with social phobia (SP). However, using facial stimuli rated on their criticalness, Lundh and Ost (1996) found that individuals with SP recognized more critical than accepting faces, whereas non-anxious controls tended to show the opposite pattern. Since the publication of Lundh and Ost's findings, additional studies using a variety of facial stimuli have produced inconsistent findings (J. Anxiety Disord. 14 (2000) 501; Behav. Res. Ther. 39 (2001) 967). Unfortunately, these inconsistencies are difficult to reconcile given great variation in methods and stimuli. Therefore, we designed a study to replicate and extend the work of Lundh and Ost (Behav. Res. Ther. 34 (1996) 787). Similar to Lundh and Ost, individuals with SP identified a significantly higher proportion of old critical faces as old than did non-anxious controls. Further, extending the work of Lundh and Ost, signal detection analyses revealed group differences on response bias according to face type. Specifically, controls showed a response bias towards indicating that accepting faces were previously seen, whereas individuals with SP did not. Finally, signal detection analyses failed to reveal group differences in the accuracy of memory.     

An investigation of the matrix training approach to teach social play skills

Matrix training is a conceptual model inspired by the generative learning approach to program development. This investigation used matrix training to facilitate a generative repertoire of two‐component solitary and social play skills in a child diagnosed with autism and cerebral palsy. Play‐related actions and corresponding toys were aligned on perpendicular axes of a standard matrix. The learner was trained on the skills that intersected along the diagonal of the matrix. The learner acquired both appropriate solitary and social play skills. The participant also began requesting items from a peer despite not having been directly trained to do so. The untrained combinations accounted for 86% of the matrix responses acquired.     

Relating social skills and social media use to consumer behavior: An investigation across the autism spectrum

In this study, we focus on the role of social functioning on consumer behavior, exploring social media use as a mediating factor. In order to facilitate our identification of social functioning competence as a factor, we increased the range by including a subgroup of respondents who identified themselves as being on the autism spectrum. Indeed, this group stood out as having difficulties in getting along with persons they interact with at school, at work and at home. We used these measures to define an individual differences index of social functioning that we call Quality of Social Functioning (QoSF). In a preliminary report, we showed that this index was predictive of social media use and its influence, with those scoring higher reacting more favorably and utilizing more of its features. In the main study, we focused on the content of social media posts by providing photos of posts that depicted either group activities or individual activities. Those scoring lower on our index gave lower ratings of posts in general, but especially for those posts depicting group activities. Results are discussed in terms of the important role of social functioning in the use of social media and its content as a vehicle for informing consumer behavior. We describe how the results of our study and related studies can be used by marketers to improve the lives of especially vulnerable consumers.     

Expectancy bias mediates the link between social anxiety and memory bias for social evaluation

Social anxiety (SA) involves a multitude of cognitive symptoms related to fear of evaluation, including expectancy and memory biases. We examined whether memory biases are influenced by expectancy biases for social feedback in SA. We hypothesised that, faced with a socially evaluative event, people with higher SA would show a negative expectancy bias for future feedback. Furthermore, we predicted that memory bias for feedback in SA would be mediated by expectancy bias. Ninety-four undergraduate students (55 women, mean age = 19.76 years) underwent a two-visit task that measured expectations about (Visit 1) and memory of (Visit 2) feedback from unknown peers. Results showed that higher levels of SA were associated with negative expectancy bias. An indirect relationship was found between SA and memory bias that was mediated by expectancy bias. The results suggest that expectancy biases are in the causal path from SA to negative memory biases for social evaluation.     

Self-image bias and the perception of other persons' skills

Previous research on the Self-image bias' has demonstrated a defensive tendency to overestimate the importance of positive general self-attributes (e.g. warm, patient) when forming impressions of other people. The current research replicates and extends the self-image bias findings in an area of theoretical as well as applied relevance: The evaluation of other peoples specific skills, and resulting social preferences.     

Reliability and concurrent relations between the teacher version of the child behavior profile and the conners revised teacher rating scale

A total of 104 disturbed boys aged 6–11 were assessed with the teacher version of the Child Behavior Profile and the Conners Revised Teacher Rating Scale (TRS). A subsample of 55 boys were reassessed with both measures at an interval of 1 week. For the teacher Profile, test-retest correlations averaged r=87 for eight behavior problem scales and r=91 for four adaptive functioning scales. Reliabilities were slightly higher for Externalizing scales (average r=.91) than for Internalizing scales (r=.80). Reliabilities averaged .94 for the Revised TRS. Correlations between the two measures indicated a strong correspondence between the three Externalizing scales of the Profile and the factor-based TRS scales. Specifically, Profile scales labeled Inattentive, Nervous-Overactive, and Aggressive correlated highly (p < .001) with TRS scales labeled Inattentive-Passive, Hyperactivity, and Conduct Problem, respectively. The Conners Hyperkinesis Index correlated highly with all three Externalizing scales of the Profile, particularly Aggressive (r=.82). Overall, these results support the reliability and concurrent validity of both measures.This research was supported by an NIMH Research Scientist Development Award (MH00403) to the first author and by NIMH grant number MH37372. The support of the William T. Grant Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are indebted to the students, teachers, and staff of PACE School for their cooperation. Tom Achenbach provided valuable comments on an earlier draft.     

Format effects in two teacher rating scales of hyperactivity

The object of this study was to investigate the effect of differences in format on the precision of teacher ratings and thus on the reliability and validity of two teacher rating scales of children's hyperactive behavior. Teachers (N=242) rated a sample of children in their classrooms using rating scales assessing similar attributes with different formats. For a sub-sample the rating scales were readministered after 2 weeks. The results indicated that improvement can be made in the precision of teacher ratings that may be reflected in improved reliability and validity.This research was supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 29495). A somewhat different version of this paper was presented at the annual convention of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, Canada, March 1978. The author thanks Nadine Lambert and Leonard Marascuilo for their assistance in the preparation of this paper.     

Factors underlying the social readjustment rating scale

The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) was administered to 185 subjects whose age ranged from 21 to 61 yr. The responses were factor analyzed for a principal axis solution followed by isopromax oblique rotation. All the items were loaded and clustered under five factors labeled as follows: (1) personal growth, maturation, and renewal; (2) tension and uncertainty; transitions in personal or occupational situations; (3) changes in one's usual routine and relationship; (4) significant changes in family or mirriage; and (5) personal catastrophies. Males scored significantly higher than females on factors 4 and 5. There were no age differences in the obtained scores. The finding of the factorial structure was thought to add credence to the scale especially in view of past criticism. Implications for future research were also discussed.     

Race,social class,and predictive bias: An evaluation using the WISC,WRAT, and teacher ratings

This study evaluated the interrelationships of a brief form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), and teacher ratings of classroom achievement in a large sample (n = 7,028) of 6- to 11-year-old children. Additionally, the study focused on the differential accuracy of these measures in predicting achievement among test takers who differed in race and socioeconomic status (SES). Overall, the results indicated a substantial relationship between the WISC and WRAT (r = .67); the WISC and teacher ratings (r = .45); and the WRAT and teacher ratings (r = .55). The relationship between the WISC and WRAT was found to be independent of race but did tend to decrease with increasing SES. The two relationships involving teacher ratings were found to be lower for black children (WISC vs. Teacher ratings, r = .33; WRAT vs. Teacher ratings, r = .47) and for black children tended to decrease with increasing SES. Although the correlational analyses indicated that race and SES functioned as moderator variables to some extent, an evaluation of possible predictive biases when using the common (total sample) regression equation indicated that biases in predicting achievement tended to be small and in some cases favored the socially disadvantaged child.     

A revised teacher rating scale for Reactive and Proactive Aggression

A teacher rating scale of reactive aggression, proactive aggression, and covert antisocial behavior was evaluated in a normative sample of third- to fifth-grade predominantly white lower middle class boys (N= 186). Factor analysis revealed independent and internally consistent Reactive Aggression (six reactive items), and Proactive Aggression (five proactive items, five covert items) factors. Although the factors were intercorrelated (r= .67), and each factor was significantly correlated with negative peer social status (r= .26 for each, controlling for grade), the independence of the factors was supported by the unique relation of Reactive Aggression with in-school detentions (r= .31), controlling for Proactive Aggression and grade. These results supported the reliability and validity of Reactive and Proactive Aggression as rated by teachers, which should facilitate further research of these constructs. This research was supported in part by an NIMH First Award to Marc Atkins (MH4682), and support from an NICHD Mental Retardation Research Center Core Center Grant (DH26979). Portions of these data were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, Sarasota, Florida, in February 1992. The authors are grateful to Paul McDermott and Tom Power for editorial comments, and to Gail Apfel, principal, and the teachers, staff, and students of Stonehurst Elementary School for their enthusiastic participation in this research.