Evaluating the Psychometric Quality of Social Skills Measures: A Systematic Review

Introduction - Impairments in social functioning are associated with an array of adverse outcomes. Social skills measures are commonly used by health professionals to assess and plan the treatment of social skills difficulties. There is a need to comprehensively evaluate the quality of psychometric properties reported across these measures to guide assessment and treatment planning. Objective - To conduct a systematic review of the literature on the psychometric properties of social skills and behaviours measures for both children and adults. Methods - A systematic search was performed using four electronic databases: CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase and Pubmed; the Health and Psychosocial Instruments database; and grey literature using PsycExtra and Google Scholar. The psychometric properties of the social skills measures were evaluated against the COSMIN taxonomy of measurement properties using pre-set psychometric criteria. Results - Thirty-Six studies and nine manuals were included to assess the psychometric properties of thirteen social skills measures that met the inclusion criteria. Most measures obtained excellent overall methodological quality scores for internal consistency and reliability. However, eight measures did not report measurement error, nine measures did not report cross-cultural validity and eleven measures did not report criterion validity. Conclusions - The overall quality of the psychometric properties of most measures was satisfactory. The SSBS-2, HCSBS and PKBS-2 were the three measures with the most robust evidence of sound psychometric quality in at least seven of the eight psychometric properties that were appraised. A universal working definition of social functioning as an overarching construct is recommended. There is a need for ongoing research in the area of the psychometric properties of social skills and behaviours instruments

Engagement Across Developmental Periods

The goal of this chapter is to provide a cohesive developmental framework and foundation for which to understand student engagement across early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. Guided by the bioecological theory of human development and the person-environment fit perspective, this chapter extends Finn\u27s participation-identification model of engagement by mapping student engagement within a larger developmental sequence. This chapter discusses student engagement within specific developmental periods that are tied to the developmental tasks, opportunities, and challenges unique to early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. Student engagement is found to be a nuanced developmental outcome, and the differences may be a result of the maturation of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional developmental tasks and the changing contextual landscape for the children and adolescents. Recommendations for future research as well as policy implications are also discussed

A qualitative examination of psychologically engaging sport, nonsport, and unstructured activities

Research on extracurricular activities emphasizes developmental opportunities for youth. This literature has infrequently considered youth's psychological engagement or the specific content associated with these opportunities and has primarily been focused on structured rather than unstructured activities. In this qualitative study, 51 youth (age 12-18 years) who were psychologically engaged in structured sport (n = 19), structured nonsport (n = 17), or unstructured (n = 15) activities discussed developmental opportunities and the experiences they associated with them. Youth in all groups reported having developmental opportunities and described experiences emphasizing social interaction, skill-related, emotional impact, and positive outcome themes and an awareness of the positive and negative aspects of some experiences. Each group also reported unique experiences associated with its activities (e.g., structured-sport youth were least likely to indicate they did not like something about their activities). The similarities and differences across groups are discussed, considering factors that might contribute to and promote psychological engagement in extracurricular activities

What did your child do today? Describing young children’s daily activities outside of school

The purpose of this study was to describe the daily activities of Canadian children outside of school. Participants were parents of N = 189 children (90 boys, 99 girls) in grades 1 to 3. The What Your Child Did Today parental telephone interview protocol was developed as a daily log of both the type and social context of children’s activities. Among the results, children spent almost half of their waking time in unstructured activities (e.g. free play), compared to 14 percent of on-screen, and 6 percent in structured activities (e.g. sports). Children spent about two-thirds of their time in the company of family followed by peers (22%), and only 10 percent of time was spent alone. Some gender differences were also noted (e.g. boys engaged in more screen time) and parental education was related to time spent in structured activities. Results are discussed in terms of implications for children’s socio-emotional development

Assessment and implications of social withdrawal in early childhood: A first look at social avoidance

The goals of the present research were to: (a) develop and provide preliminary validation of a parent-rated measure of social avoidance in early childhood; and (b) to evaluate a conceptual model of the direct and indirect links among young children's social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability, social avoidance), peer problems, and indices of internalizing problems (social anxiety, depression). Participants were N = 564 children (272 boys, 292 girls; Mage = 67.29 mos, SD = 11.70) attending kindergarten and Grade 1 classes in public schools in southeastern Ontario, Canada. A new subscale assessing social avoidance was added to an existing parent-rated measure of children's social withdrawal. Indices of children's socioemotional functioning were provided by parents and teachers. Among the results, the revised measure of multiple forms of social withdrawal demonstrated good psychometric properties, moderate stability 16 months later, and evidence of validity. Shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance also displayed differential patterns of associations with indices of children's socioemotional functioning. Results are discussed in terms of the assessment and implications of different forms of social withdrawal in early childhood

Coaching the quiet: Exploring coaches’ beliefs about shy children in a sport context

Organized sports may enhance the social skills and peer relationships of shy children. Interactions with coaches may be critical determinants of these benefits. Thus, our goal was to explore coaches’ beliefs, attitudes, and responses to shy children. Participants were 447 undergraduate students (343 female; Mage = 19.39 years, SD = 2.12) with coaching experience. Participants indicated their anticipated behaviours, emotions, and perceived implications in response to hypothetical children exhibiting shy, unsociable, and verbally exuberant behaviours in a sport context. Coaches viewed shy behaviour more problematically than both verbally exuberant and unsociable behaviours, anticipating the most negative implications for shy children's peer relationships, development, and team performance and supporting the use of differential coaching strategies. However, despite reporting the most worry about shyness, coaches were less likely to intervene in response to shyness compared to exuberance. We discuss the implications that our results may have for the adjustment of shy children