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A brief method for assessing social development: Structure, reliability, stability, and developmental validity of the Interpersonal Competence Scale
Pergamon
Behar. Res. Ther. Vol. 33, No. 6, pp. 725-736, 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain
0005-7967(95)00004-6
A BRIEF METHOD FOR ASSESSING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: STRUCTURE, RELIABILITY, STABILITY, AND DEVELOPMENTAL VALIDITY OF THE INTERPERSONAL COMPETENCE SCALE ROBERT B. CAIRNS, MAN-CHI LEUNG, SCOTT D. GEST and BEVERLEY D. CAIRNS Center for Developmental Science, University of North Carolina, 521 South Greensboro St, C. B. 8115, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8115, U.S.A, (Received 18 December 1994)
Summary--The Interpersonal Competence Scale (ICS-T) is a set of brief rating scales for teachers and parents. It consists of 18 items that assess social and behavioral characteristics of children and youths. The ICS-T yields three primary factors: AGG (argues, trouble at school, fights), POP (popular with boys, popular with girls, lots of friends), and ACA (spelling, math). Subsidiary factors include AFF (smile, friendly), OLY (appearance, sports, wins), and INT (shyness, sad, worry). The psychometric properties of the scale (internal structure, reliability, long-term stability) are presented and evaluated over successive ages. The scale factors have been linked to contemporaneous observations of behavior and social network membership. Developmental validity of the ICS-T includes the significant prediction of later school dropout and teenage parenthood. The 1CS-T scale is described, along with instructions for use and scoring.
INTRODUCTION This article describes the Interpersonal Competence Scale (ICS-T), a method for assessing social development of children and adolescents through ratings by adults. Although the test was created to meet distinctive needs of longitudinal assessment, it has proved useful in other contexts that call for the brief assessment of social behavior. The ICS-T has been briefly described in some of our previous publications (Cairns & Cairns, 1984; Cairns, Cairns & Neckerman, 1989; Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Ferguson & Gariepy, 1989; Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Gest & Gariepy, 1988; Cairns, Perrin & Cairns, 1985). The purpose of the present article is to provide further information on the construction and psychometric properties of ICS-T.* Longitudinal research designs encounter special measurement problems which include, but extend beyond, the use of assessment devices on a single occasion (Cairns, 1991; Magnusson, 1988; Magnusson & Bergman, 1990). One pragmatic consideration is economy and the psychological burden of assessment. Longitudinal research requires continued cooperation by subjects and other key informants, including teachers and parents. To maintain cooperation and involvement, a balance must be struck between assessment breadth, depth, and complexity, on one hand, and measurement economy, simplicity, and efficiency, on the other. In addition, longitudinal assessment procedures should permit direct comparisons across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This need is in line with the goal of longitudinal study to plot normative trajectories and to establish the stability of individual differences. Beyond such methodological considerations, there is a need to anticipate instrument and construct obsolescence. Constructs that are accepted by the discipline when the longitudinal investigation begins may no longer be hegemonic 10, 20, or 30 yr later when the research matures (Kessen, 1960). It is desirable, therefore, for the items to assess concrete actions and dispositions that may endure beyond the life of the investigation. *Another form of ICS (i.e. ICS-S) was prepared in order to permit children and youth to describe themselves. The scales are identical, except for the format of presentation and the inclusion of 3 distracter items in the self version. Although the ICS-S yields factor structures that are generally similar to the ICS-T, the 2 scales have different psychometric characteristics and predictive power. The ICS-S will be described in a separate paper. 725
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Such methodological and theoretical considerations were at the fore when we initiated the Carolina Longitudinal Study (CLS) in the 1970s. The reasons for using rating scales in addition to other procedures were outlined by Cairns and Green (1979). The larger research design involved the multi-level assessments of 695 Ss from 10 to 20 yr of age, along with parents, peers, and social networks (Cairns & Cairns, 1984, 1994). At one of the measurement levels, we planned to make annual assessments of social and behavioral competence as rated by the youth and their teachers. Given the number of primary Ss in the longitudinal research and additional informants who were to be involved each year, four criteria were followed in the development of the rating procedure, namely: 1. Brevity (i.e. the scale should be completed by an informant well acquainted with the child in 2-4 min); 2. Ease of administration and understanding (i.e. the completion of the scale should require no more than 3rd or 4th grade reading level); 3. Breadth of coverage (i.e. aggressive patterns, peer social acceptance, academic/school performance, affiliative propensities, status with respect to socially-admired characteristics of children and gender and age differences in these domains); 4. Flexibility in use, such that the rating scale could be used across ages by teachers, parents, and by children themselves to permit nomothetic and individual difference comparisons in the above competence domains. There were few comparable longitudinal investigations of social development in the U.S. when this study began, and then-available rating instruments failed to meet the above criteria on one or more counts. Although that state of affairs has now changed (Achenbach, 1991; Achenbach, Howell, Quay & Conners, 1991; Finkelman, Ferrarese & Garmezy, 1989; Gesten, 1976; Harter, 1982; Hightower, Work, Cowen Lotyczweski, Spinell, Guare & Rohrbeck, 1986; Quay & Peterson, 1987; Spivack & Swift, 1967; Swift, 1982), there remains a need for a brief yet psychometrically sound rating scale of social adaptation that can be employed over a broad age range.
DESCRIPTION, ADMINISTRATION, AND SCORING Description
The 18-item version of ICS-T is shown in Appendix A. Each item is presented as a unidimensional, 7-point bipolar scale. Seven small boxes located at equidistant intervals on a horizontal line define the choices. Informants are asked to fill in the box that describes the S on each item. The descriptors describe the points of the scale at the extremes and at the mid-point. To avoid response bias, the extremes are reversed so that the socially desirable alternatives (when these can be identified) occur on both the left and right extremes of the items. Originally there were 15 items in the Interpersonal Competence Scale. Three more items were added 7 yr after the beginning of the study. Since longitudinal validity results are not available for the factor described by these 3 items, ICS-T refers to the original 15-item version unless otherwise specified. Administration
Minimal instructions ordinarily prove sufficient for adult informants. For example, in school applications, the first requirement is to identify an individual (teacher, administrator, counselor) who feels that she/he knows the child well. That person is then given the ICS-T sheet, along with the written instructions: Please mark the appropriate rating for this student on each item. Work quickly and do not omit any item, using your own knowledge of the child as your guide. Use all of the points of the scale that apply. These instructions have been used at all grade levels of the longitudinal investigation from the 3rd grade (approximately 9 yr old) through 12th grade (approximately 18 yr old). Slight variations
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are necessary for administration to parents, grandparents, and spouses (i.e. replace the words 'this student' with 'your son', 'your granddaughter', etc.).
Scoring Each item represents a single dimension scored on a 7-point scale. The possible scores for each item range from 1 to 7. The general rule is that the higher the score for each item, the more descriptive is the characteristic of the S. Items were originally grouped into 5 subscales, assessing aggressiveness, popularity, academic achievement, social affiliation, and 'Olympian' quantities (i.e. sporting prowess, attractiveness and tendency to win at games, sports, etc.) (i.e. AGG, POP, ACA, AFF, OLY). Assignment of items to subscales were based on item content as well as prior research reports. Subscale scores also range from 1.0 to 7.0. The higher the score, the more descriptive is the subscale of the S. The assignment of items to subscales is also shown in Appendix A. The SC score (summed interpersonal competence score) is the unweighted mean of the 5 subscale scores, with the aggressive factor reversed in sign. Hence it is the unweighted mean of the informant's ratings of the S with respect to high POP, high AFF, high OLY, high ACA and low AGG. This summed SC score also ranges from 1.0 to 7.0, with 7.0 the highest level of SC and !.0 the lowest. ICS CONSTRUCTION The construction of the scale began with decisions on which domains to assess. These domains were determined in part by theoretical considerations and in part by a review of the social development literature (Cairns, 1979). The item content that was selected to assess these domains were drawn from a review of existing research applications and assessment procedures (e.g. Olweus, 1972, 1979) or were created especially for this instrument. The words and choices presented to the S were determined to be appropriate for children who could read at the third and fourth grade level, permitting both individual and group administration. Following preliminary studies with 350 third and fourth grade students and their teachers, 15 unidimensional, bi-polar scales were selected for inclusion into the instrument. The Ss for this initial construction, 8-10 yr of age, were drawn from a suburban, middle class school system. In refining the scale, standard psychometric considerations were followed to guard against positionand response-bias, with the positive dimension reversed, and the items ordered randomly to avoid clustering in assessment. The English version has been used in the United States for more than l0 yr. In addition, Chinese translations of the ICS have been employed in studies of social networks and social perception among school children in Hong Kong (Leung, 1993) and social behavior development in Taiwan (Sun, 1992, 1994). PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE INTERPERSONAL COMPETENCE SCALE
Results of longitudinal study Information on the psychometric properties of ICS were obtained primarily from the Carolina Longitudinal Study (CLS). The CLS sample has been described in other research reports (Cairns & Cairns, 1994; Cairns, Cairns & Neckerman, 1989; Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Ferguson & Gari6py, 1989; Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Gest & Gari6py, 1988). In brief, a total of 695 Ss (364 girls, 331 boys) were recruited from seven public schools in two cohorts. Cohort I was comprised of 220 4th grade Ss (116 girls, 104 boys; mean age = 10.2 yr, SD--0.57) from four elementary schools. Cohort II was comprised of 475 7th grade Ss (248 girls, 227 boys; mean age = 13.4 yr, SD = 0.58) from three middle schools. The mean family SES on the Duncan scale (Featherman revision) was 30.2 (SD = 17.1) in Cohort I and 31.6 (SD = 17.8) in Cohort II, and the full range of occupations was represented in the samples (range from 88 to 7; e.g. chair of medical center department, attorney, regional sales manager, small business owner, truck driver, domestic worker, unemployed farm worker). Twenty-five percent of the Ss were minority status (predominantly
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African-American). The seven schools were located in two counties of North Carolina: one, a suburban metropolitan area, and the other, a rural county, as classified by the 1980 U.S. census. There were no restrictions on inclusion other than consent; all children in the designated grade (4th or 7th) in each school were included in the study if (a) the children wished to participate and (b) they and their parent or legal guardian signed a statement of informed consent. The participation rate ranged from 89% in the last junior high school assessed (132/149) to 50% in the first junior high (83/166), with an overall participation of 70% (695/994). The 70% of the children who consented to be Ss and the 30% who did not were compared in terms of ethnic status, sex, and probability of being nominated as highly aggressive. No systematic differences were observed on any of these dimensions. Subjects were interviewed annually until high school graduation. Internal structure
In each of the first 2 yr of the Carolina Longitudinal Study, ICS-T was factor analyzed and evaluated by a LISREL measurement model. The aim was to determine whether the a priori grouping of items would be matched by empirically derived factors. As described below, the a priori grouping was consistent with the factors identified in the teacher ratings of 4th grade and 7th grade Ss. Following 9 yr of longitudinal investigation, factor analyses were then computed for each year for each cohort. lnitial analyses. Factor analysis was run on teacher ratings of the initial 2 yr. AGG, POP, and ACA emerged as distinct factors in both the elementary school and middle school samples. Two factor extraction methods were used in the analysis: Principal Component Analysis and Principal Axis Factoring. Minimum Eigen value of 1.0 was used as the criterion to determine the number of factors in the solution and Varimax was used to rotate the resulting factors. Virtually the same factor pattern was found by the two factor extraction methods except that factor loadings were slightly lower when Principal Axis Factoring was used. The rotated factor pattern of the Principal Component Analysis is shown in Tables 1a and 1b. Three to four factors were extracted, depending on age and gender. POP emerged as the first factor, with AGG and ACA being the second and the third. The fourth factor, when it appeared, usually included items such as 'smile', 'friendly' and 'cry'. A LISREL measurement model indicated an excellent fit of the hypothesized items to these clusters. For example, at the 7th grade level, the hypothesized structural equation with 3 latent variables (i.e. POP, AGG, ACA) yielded a Goodness of Fit Index = 0.98. The Z: with 17 degrees of freedom was 13.83 (P = 0.67), consistent with the goodness-of-fit statistic. This confirmatory factor analysis was representative of those conducted at the other grade levels, indicating that 3 separate factors may be reliably identified. In each case, the 3 factors were comprised of items that had been assigned to the factors on the basis of prior research reports and item content. The remaining 2 subsca|es (AFF, OLY) also showed significant clustering in these empirical factor analyses. These clusters were comprised of intercorrelated items and they sometimes appeared as separate factors. However, they typically migrated toward the general POP factor. Table la. Factor analysis of ICS-T: Cohort I (4th grade, females and males separately) Females Item description 4. Popular with boys 10. Popular with girls 11. Many friends 1. Argues 2. Gets in trouble 8, Gets into fights 7. G o o d at spelling 9. Good at math 3. Smiles a lot 14. Friendly 5. Good at sports 6, Good looking 13. Wins a lot 12, Gets own way 15, Cries Eigenvalue % Variance explained
Males
I
2
3
4
I
2
3
4
0.76 0.74 0.74 -0.20 --0.12 -0.07 0.15 0.38 0.46 0.03 0.68 0.63 0.71 -0.12 -0.12 5.31 35.40
-0.11 -0.37 -0,39 0.81 0.83 0.80 -0.23 -0.06 -0,16 -0.30 0.16 -0.18 -0.15 -0.28 0.53 2.32 15.47
0.14 0,13 0.09 0.23 -0.11 -0.03 0.79 0.73 -0.21 0.19 0.06 0.24 0.35 -0.65 -0.08 1.27 8.47
-0,11 0.21 0.29 0.17 -0.21 -0.26 0.10 0.04 0.69 0.83 0.12 0.02 0.19 0.07 -0.19 1.03 6.87
0.71 0.77 0,75 -0.19 -0.14 -0.03 0.20 0.10 0.41 0.19 0.76 0.77 0.54 -0.31 -0.10 5.92 39.47
-0.09 -0.10 -0.21 0.87 0.84 0.83 -0.33 -0.17 -0.10 -0.33 0.01 -0.14 -0.17 -0.27 0.46 2.28 15.20
0.13 0.23 0.23 -0.08 -0.31 -0.32 0.77 0.78 0.50 0.43 -0.08 0.15 0.41 -0.18 0.28 1.20 8.00
0.41 0.08 0.35 -0.10 -0.03 -0.02 -0.07 0.16 0.36 0,65 0.13 -0.04 0.32 -0.68 -0,57 1.0 I 6.73
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Table lb. Factor analysis of ICS-T: Cohort II (7th grade, females and males) Females Item description 4.
10. II. I. 2. 8. 7. 9. 3. 14. 5. 6. 13. 12. 15.
Popular with boys Popular with girls Has many friends Argues
Gets in trouble Gets into fights Good at spelling Good at math Smiles a lot Friendly
Good at sports Good looking Wins a lot
Gets their way Cries
Eigenvalue % Variance explained
Males
I
2
3
I
2
3
4
0.72 0.80 0.77 -0.12 -0.15 -0.06 0.24 0.12 0.71 0.57 0.47 0.69 0.59 -0.42 -0.01 4.93 32.87
-0.06 -0.24 -0.31 0.82 0.79 0.83 -0.29 -0.12 -0.09 -0.33 0.21 -0.11 0.17 -0.29 0.46 2.30 15.33
0.08 0.06 0.10 -0.11 -0.08 -0.09 0.64 0.73 0.17 0.18 0.16 0.06 0.36 -0.52 -0.49 1.14 7.60
0.62 0.79 0.76 -0.07 -0.18 0.08 0.25 0.08 0.51 0.32 0.59 0.67 0.69 -0.08 0.04 4.24 28.27
-0.12 -0.11 -0.18 0.82 0.82 0.75 -0.36 -0.35 0.16 -0.31 0.08 -0.08 -0.06 -0.39 0.16 2.29 15,27
-0.06 0.06 0.08 0.07 -0.20 -0.12 0.59 0.67 0.08 0.11 0.03 0.19 0.42 -0.69 0.01 1.24 8.27
-0.29 0.11 0.24 0.00 -0.05 -0.33 0.09 -0.07 0,45 0.50 0.40 0.00 0.01 -0.12 -0.73 1.13 7.53
It should also be noted that the factors themselves were intercorrelated. Inspection of the raw correlational matrix indicated that virtually all of the items were correlated positively when they were re-scored so that low totals reflected positive or socially desirable attributes. The same conclusion may be drawn from the initial Principal Components Analysis. Prior to rotation, the first factor in the Principal Components Analysis accounted for about one-third of the total variance among items, and most of the items were significantly loaded on this 'general positivity' factor. Longitudinal analyses. The availability of 9 yr of longitudinal data in one cohort (n = 220) and 6 yr in another cohort (n = 475) provided a unique opportunity to determine whether the internal structure of the ICS-T identified in childhood would be consistent with the structure observed in later years of adolescence. Although the same Ss were involved in the cohorts, different teachers provided ratings virtually every year. Factor analyses were computed separately for girls and boys in each data collection wave in both longitudinal samples. This yielded a total of 30 analyses (i.e. 9 data collection waves for Cohort I and 6 for Cohort II, each separately by gender). The mean age of the Ss in the first data collection of Cohorts I and II was 10.2 and 13.2 yr, respectively. Consistent with the initial analyses, the items that had been assumed to represent AGG, POP and ACA emerged in distinct factors in virtually all of the 30 analyses, regardless of gender or age. Specifically, the 3 AGG items were significantly loaded (/> 0.40) together on a distinct factor in 97% (29/30) of the analyses. The item 'argue' did not load in the same factor with the other 2 items (i.e. 'get in trouble' and 'fight') for cohort II girls at grade 12, and this was the only time these 3 items fell apart. The 2 items representing ACA loaded in the same factor in 97% (29/30) of the analyses, and the 3 POP items loaded together in 93% (28/30) (Table 2). Table 2. Frequencies of ICS-T subscales loaded in the same facto# for males and females AGG
Males AGG POP ACA AFF OLY Females AGG POP ACA AFF OLY
Factors b POP
ACA
AFF
OLY
15
0 14
I 0 15
1 5 1 14
0 10 1 4 12
14
0 14
I 2 14
5 9 0 15
0 8 I 4
11
~These frequencies are based on a total of 15 factor analyses. A subscale is considered as loaded on a factor if all of its items have a factor loading of 0.40 or higher on the factor. b Items for AGG (argue, trouble, fight), POP (popular with boys, popular with girls, friends), ACA (spelling, math), AFF (smile, friendly) and OLY (good at sports, good looking, win).
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The 2 items that represented A F F were on the same factor in 97% (29/30) of the analyses, but they loaded on the POP factor half of the time. The OLY factor showed a similar pattern. The items loaded together in 77% (23/30) of the analyses but usually they adhered to the POP factor. Among the 3 items that represented OLY, 'good at sports' and 'good looking' always clustered together except for cohort II girls at grade 8. Two items--'gets own way' and 'crying'--are not represented on the 5 factors. The 'gets own way' item was assumed to be a measure of dominance, but it was not linked to the A G G factor. The 'crying' item was expected to represent emotionality and gender differences. It typically occurs as a single item factor, if it appears at all, in the exploratory factor analyses involving the original 15 items. The ICS was revised in 1988 to assess an additional factor INT (internalizing problems), and three items, 'sad', 'worry' and 'shy', were added to form a new subscale. This new 18-item version was tested on the first cohort in grade I1 and 12, and a subsample of the second cohort in the 12th grade. Additional samples were drawn from elementary and middle schools, with a total of 231 boys and 277 girls in grade 4 to 7. Ten factor analyses, with the same extraction criterion and rotation method described above, were run with Ss of different sex and educational levels separated. The INT factor turned out to be a distinct factor in 7 of these 10 analyses and merged with the A F F factor on two other occasions (i.e. in grade 11 boys and one of the two samples of grade 12 boys). 'Crying a lot' also loaded in this INT factor 3 times. It should be noted that the addition of these 3 items did not change the structure of the other factors. In brief, 3 factors--AGG, POP, A C A - - a r e clearly identified across childhood and adolescence among both females and males. The subsidiary factors of A F F and OLY are linked to the SC factor and POP, although they have distinctive features that have proven useful in particular applications. Internal consistency. Cronbach ~ coefficients were computed separately for boys and girls for each assessment wave of the longitudinal cohorts. The results indicated that there were acceptable levels of internal consistency. The median as were 0.82 for the ICS-T A G G factor, 0.81 for the ICS-T POP factor, 0.71 for the ICS-T ACA factor, 0.71 for the ICS-T A F F factor, 0.67 for the ICS-T OLY factor, and 0.84 for summed SC factor score.
Test-retest reliability and stability Results that pertain to two kinds of test-retest reliability (short-term retest and long-term stability) are summarized below. Short-term test-retest: reliability. In general, the primary ICS-T subscales have proved to be robust when assessed over the short-term (3-week inter-test interval). As reported elsewhere (Cairns, Leung, Buchanan & Cairns, 1991), samples of 4th grade (n = 58) and 7th grade children (n = 78) were re-assessed in the spring semester on two occasions separated by a 3-week interval. These schools were two of those which had been sampled 8 yr earlier to obtain the original CLS cohorts. The 3-week test-retest reliability correlations for the two grades are shown in Table 3. Note that the coefficients are high across the board for the subscales and for the summed SC factor score. When combined across gender and grade, the median correlations were r = 0.89 for the A G G factor, r = 0.82 for the POP factor, r = 0.88 for the ACA factor, r = 0.69 for the A F F factor, r = 0.87 for the OLY factor and r = 0.91 for summed SC factor score. Long-term test-retest: stability. Long-term individual difference stability of ICS-T scores were also assessed in CLS samples (Table 4). Despite the multiple sources of change (e.g. different judges, normative age-related changes, different school contexts, and individual difference shifts), reasonable stability was observed. The median individual difference stability correlations across the 1-yr interval (combining across gender and grade) were moderately strong: r = 0.47 for AGG, r = 0.42 for POP, r = 0.49 for ACA, r = 0.27 for AFF, r = 0.40 for OLY, and r = 0.52 for the summed SC factor score. Although there was continued decay in individual-difference stability over longer intervals, Pearson correlations remained in the range of 0.20 to 0.50 across 5-yr and 8-yr intervals, except for the A F F factor. Further analyses of these stabilities and changes appear in companion investigations (Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Ferguson & Gari6py, 1989; Cairns & Cairns, 1994). Between-rater agreement. The level of agreement between independent raters ranged from 0.80 to 0.88 when assessments were made in the 4th grade and 7th grade classrooms (e.g. Cairns et al., 1985; Cairns & Cairns, 1984). For example, consider the inter-observer agreement reported by
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Table 3. Three-week test-retest reliability coefficients for the 1CS-T scale scores Grade AGG Females Males POP Females Males ACA Females Males AFF Females Males OLY Females Males Overall SC Females Males
4
7
0.92 0.89
0.73 0.89
0.80 0.84
0.80 0.89
0.89 0.83
0.87 0.86
0.66 0.89
0.58 0.71
0.89 0.87
0.81 0.86
0.92 0.89
0.92 0.89
Note: Numbers represent correlation co-
efficients.
Cairns and Cairns (1984) for the AGG factor (comprised of 3 items; namely, 'gets in trouble at school', 'fights a lot', and 'always argues'). The concurrent between-rater reliability for the AGG factor scores in assessments were r(35) = 0.82 and r(26) = 0.78 (Fisher Z-averaged r = 0.81). These two-person interrater reliabilities compare favorably with those reported in other studies (e.g. Olweus, 1979) and prior reliabilities reported with the present scale (Cairns & Cairns, 1984).
Developmental validity Contemporaneous and longitudinal outcomes have been related to ICS-T scores. Some relationships that are of special interest for social development are summarized below. Adjustment in early maturity. In embedded subgroups in each CLS longitudinal cohort, 40 children who were nominated for extreme aggressive risk by teachers were individually matched to 40 children (on gender, classroom attended, physical size) who were not nominated for extreme aggressive risk. Composite indices of early adult adjustment were available for these 80 persons. The composite index included imprisonment, early high school dropout, arrest for assault, teenage parenthood, residential treatment for serious psychiatric disturbance, attempted suicide and Table 4. Long-term stability of ICS-T scale scores 1 yr AGG Females Males POP Females Males ACA Females Males AFF Females Males OLY Females Males Overall SC Females Males
Cohort I 4yr
8 yr
! yr
Cohort II 3 yr
5 yr
0.49 0.50
0.29 0.41
0.30 0.46
0.44 0.45
0.40 0.37
0.25 0.38
0.48 0.44
0.30 0.31
0.26 0.13
0.39 0.38
0.32 0.29
0.24 0.20
0.45 0.53
0.35 0.35
0.39 0.46
0.47 0.51
0.37 0.49
0.39 0.31
0.27 0.32
0.23 0.16
0.21 -0.07
0.18 0.26
0.16 0.11
0.12 0.08
0.40 0.37
0.28 0.26
0.22 0.20
0.41 0.39
0.32 0.26
0.29 0.30
0.53 0.54
0.32 0.37
0.30 0.26
0.50 0.46
0.35 0.30
0.30 0.31
Note: Numbers represent correlation coefficients. For Cohort I, coefficients refer
to the median of the eight 1-year intervals (4th-5th, 5th~th, etc.), five 4-year intervals (4th-8th, 5th-9th, etc.), and one 8-year interval (4th-I 2th) between grades 4 and 12. For Cohort II, coefficients refer to the median of the five 1-year intervals (7th-8th, 8th-9th, etc.), three 3-year intervals (7th-10th, 8th-llth, 9th-12th), and one 5-year interval (7th-12th) between grades 7 and 12.
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Robert B. Cairns et aL
mortality (Cairns & Cairns, 1994). A multiple regression analysis was completed for each of the two cohorts, with the 3 primary ICS-T subscales (i.e. AGG, ACA, POP) and gender included as predictor variables and adjustment in early adulthood as the outcome variable. The multiple R was robust and highly significant (R = 0.53, P < 0.001) in the older sample. This cohort involved Ss 13.6 yr of age at initial assessment, and the ICS-T AGG score emerged as the only significant predictor. In the sample that was younger at first test, the multiple R was marginally significant (R = 0.34, P < 0.05). This longitudinal sample involved Ss 10.4 yr of age at initial assessment, and the ICS-T POP score emerged as the single significant predictor. Gender did not appear as a significant predictor at either grade level. Early school dropout. ICS-T subscale scores obtained in the 4th grade and 7th grade were linked in two separate samples to early school dropout in the 1lth grade (7 yr and 4 yr after the ICS assessment, respectively). As reported in Cairns, Cairns and Neckerman (1989), a robust relationship was found between the ICS-T AGG and ACA factors and subsequent school dropout, when these effects were evaluated by a multiple logistic regression model separately for males (R = 0.35, P < 0.001) and females (R = 0.40, P < 0.001). Similarly, ICS-T subscale scores emerged as significant indicators of early school dropout in the multiple logistic regression models for girls (R = 0.38, P < 0.001) and boys (R = 0.31, P < 0.01) in the 4th grade. AGG and ACA typically were represented in the final model. Teenage parenthood. Subsequent teenage parenthood was associated with ICS-T scores in the 4th and 7th grade (see Cairns & Cairns, 1994). In separate analyses conducted by cohort, grade, and gender, the individual subscale scores that consistently emerged as reliable predictors were AGG and ACA. Logistic regressions were completed where teenage parenthood was the dependent variable. All predictive equations were significant (P < 0.001), with the multiple correlations ranging from R = 0.25 to R = 0.45. ACA proved to be consistently represented in the final model, typically in combination with AGG. ICS-T POP factor score was inconsistently having a negative association with teenage parenthood, remaining in the final regression equation in only one of the six models (i.e. 7th grade girls, Cohort II). This effect was not replicated in the same sex-grade group of Cohort I, where ACA was the only variable in the predictive equation (R = 0.35, P < 0.001). Direct observations and peer nominations. Extensive observations over 4 consecutive days were completed for children of extreme aggressive risk and their matched control as described above. Correlations were computed between ICS-T subscale scores and summary measures of the rate of negative, hostile behavior and positive, cooperative behaviors. The direct behavioral observations of negative, hostile conflicts were significantly associated with ICS-T AGG scores in the 4 age-sex groups (median r = 0.55, P < 0.01). Similarly, the ICS-T AGG score was significantly related to peer nominations of persons who started conflicts or who caused them trouble (median r = 0.58). The ICS-T POP subscale was not, however, consistently or strongly linked to direct observation of positive interactions, except for the older cohort of females. POP score was related to social group status, as measured by number of occasions named to social groups (Cairns et al., 1985). Social network membership. ICS-T scores are significantly associated with social network membership, in that persons with high (or low) AGG scores tend to be in the same social groups (Cairns et al., 1988). The intraclass correlation using the ICS-T AGG score was significant for the 4th grade boys ( r ' = 0.75), 7th grade boys ( r ' = 0.43) and 7th grade girls ( r ' = 0.37). To a lesser extent, children with high ACA scores tend to affiliate with each other. ICS-T POP scores do not differentiate the social network membership of males, although POP scores are related in females (Cairns & Cairns, 1994). ACA plays a larger role, as expected, in the social networks of children in Hong Kong and Taipei than comparable-aged children in the U.S. (Leung, 1993; Sun, 1992). Additional applications. The brevity and simplicity of the instrument promotes its use in diverse settings. The ICS-T has been employed to access the relationship between aggressive behavior and self-destructive acts in high school students (Sussman, 1991), the social group formation during summer camp among girls (Edwards, 1990), social patterns among juveniles incarcerated in a high-risk residential facility (Clarke, 1993), social networks and self-other discrepancies (Leung, 1993).
Interpersonal Competence Scale
733
DISCUSSION In longitudinal and preventive intervention research, there is often a need for a brief and simple instrument to assess the interpersonal competence of children. Given the difficulty of securing cooperation from individual teachers and administrators, the ICS provides an alternative to or supplement for other more costly rating procedures. Economy in ICS administration was not purchased at the cost of the psychometric considerations of internal consistency, reliability, and developmental validity. The ICS-T measure yields coherent and consistent factors, and these factors have reasonable predictive stability and validity. These outcomes were not unexpected. At the beginning of this work, we observed that ratings provide an economical way to summarize a great deal of useful individual difference information (Cairns & Green, 1979). Once the major sources of variance that contribute to these perceptions/evaluations of other persons are identified, there should be only modest gains to increasing the length of the assessment procedures (Cairns, 1990; Cairns & Cairns, 1988; Magnusson, 1988).* It is now generally recognized that the correlation between the self-ratings of a child and the rating of the child by persons who know him/her well tends to be modest in most dimensions of social behavior (see Achenbach, McConaughy & Howell, 1987). Moreover, ratings outside the self (i.e. teacher, peer) typically provide higher levels of prediction to both contemporaneous observations and developmental outcomes (Cairns & Cairns, 1988, 1994).t Accordingly, it cannot be assumed that self-ratings of a given dimension can substitute for ratings beyond the self, even when the same items are employed by the self and others. Although ICS was originally designed for normal population, it has also been successfully used with a population of violent, incarcerated youths (Clarke, 1993). The instrument can be readily adapted to other clinical samples where ratings can be provided by staff, supervisors, and researchers, possibly as a screening device. Prior to general use as a group screening or individual assessment technique, however, it seems important to obtain further information on the contextspecific and sample-specific properties of the instrument. In summary, it is possible to routinely obtain information on social behaviors in natural settings by use of the ICS-T. Although the scale is deceptively modest in construction and requires only a brief time for administration, it yields robust and reliable factor scores on basic social and cognitive domains. These factor scores, and the configurations they describe, provide robust assessments of current behaviors and reliable predictions of future social adjustment.
REFERENCES Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Integrative guide for the 1991 CBCL/4-18, YSR, and TRF profiles. University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry: Burlington. Achenbach, T. M., Howell, C. T., Quay, H. C. & Conners, C. K. (1991). National survey of problems and competencies among four- to sixteen-year-olds: Parents' reports for normative and clinical samples. Monographs of the Society for Research in ChiM Development, Serial No. 225, 55. Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H. & Howell, C. T. (1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 213-232. Cairns, R. B. (1979). Social development: The origins and plasticity of social interchanges. San Francisco: Freeman. Cairns, R. B. (1990). Developmental epistemology and self knowledge: Towards a reinterpretation of self-esteem. In Tobach, E. & Greenberg, G. (Eds), Theories of the evolution of knowing: The T. C. Schneirla conference series (Vol. 4, pp. 69-86). Hillsdale, NJ: LEA. Cairns, R. B. (1991). Multiple metaphors for a singular idea. Developmental Psychology, 27, 23-26. Cairns, R. B. & Cairns, B. D. (1984). Predicting aggressive patterns in girls and boys: A developmental study. Aggressive Behavior, 10, 227-242. Cairns, R. B. & Cairns, B. D. (1988). The sociogenesis of self concepts. In Bolger, N., Caspi, A., Downey, G. & Moorehouse, M. (Eds), Persons in social context: Developmental processes (pp. 181-202). New York: Cambridge University Press. Cairns, R. B, & Cairns, B. D. (1994). Lifelines and risks: Pathways of youth in our time. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Cairns, R. B., Cairns, B. D. & Neckerman, H. J. (1989). Early school dropout: Configurations and determinants. Child Development, 60, 1437-1452. *By way of analogy, it should not be necessary to draw a liter of blood when only a cubic centimeter is required for diagnosis. While the above analogy may hold when evaluating individuals by ratings, it surely does not apply to direct behavioral observations (Cairns & Green, 1979). Extensive observations are required in order to identify between-individual differences by direct observation. tCairns, Leung, Gest and Cairns, in preparation.
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Cairns, R. B., Cairns, B. D., Neckerman, H. J., Ferguson, L. L. & Gari~py, J. L. (1989). Growth and aggression: I. Childhood to early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 25, 320-330. Cairns, R. B., Cairns, B. D., Neckerman, H. J., Gest, S. & Gari~py, J. L. (1988). Social networks and aggressive behavior: Peer support or peer rejection? Developmental Psychology, 24, 815-823. Cairns, R. B. & Green, J. A. (1979). How to assess personality and social patterns: Ratings or observations? In Cairns, R. B. (Ed.), The analysis of social interaction: Methods, issues, and illustrations (pp. 209-226). Hillsdale, N J: Erlbaum. Cairns, R. B., Leung, M. C., Buchanan, L. & Cairns, B. D. (1991): Friendships and social networks in childhood and early adolescence: Short-term stability and fluidity. Unpublished manuscript, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Cairns, R. B., Perrin, J. E. & Cairns, B. D. (1985). Social structure and social cognition in early adolescence: Afliliative patterns. Journal of Early Adolescence, 5, 339-355. Clarke, J. G. (1993). Social networks and conventional attachments of violent and assaultive adolescents. Unpublished Masters thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Edwards, C. A. (1990). Leadership, social networks, and personal attributes in school age girls. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Finkelman, D., Ferrarese, N. J. & Garmezy, N. (1989). A factorial, reliability, and validity study of the Devereux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale. Psychological Reports, 64, 535-547. Gesten, E. (1976). A Health Resources Inventory: The development of a measure of the personal and social competence of primary grade children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 44, 775-786. Hatter, S. (1982). The Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Child Development, 53, 87-97. Hightower, A. D., Work, W. C., Cowen, E. L., Lotyczewski, B. S., Spinell, A. P., Guare, J. C. & Rohrbeek, C. A. (1986). The Teacher-Child Rating Scale: A brief objective measure of elementary children's school problem behaviors and competencies. School Psychology Review, 15, 393-409. Kessen, W. (1960). Research design in the study of developmental problems. In Mussen, P. H. (Ed.), Handbook of research methods in child development (pp. 36-70). New York: Wiley. Leung, M. C. (1993). Social cognition and social networks of Chinese school children in Hong Kong. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Magnusson, D. (1988). Individual development from an interactional perspective. In Magnusson, D. (Ed.), Paths through life: A longitudinal research program (Vol. 1). Hillsdale, N J: LEA. Magnusson, D. & Bergrnan, L. R. (1990). (Eds) Data quality in longitudinal research. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Olweus, D. (1972). Personality and aggression. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 20, 261-321. Olweus, D. (1979). Stability of aggressive reaction patterns in males: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 852-875. Quay, H. C. & Peterson, D. R. (1987). Manual for the revised behavior problem checklist. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami, Department of Psychology. Spivack, G. & Swift, M. (1967). Devereux elementary school behavior rating scale manual. Devon, PA: The Devereux Foundation. Sun, S. L. (1992, March). Social relationships of children and adolescents in Taiwan. Poster presented at meeting of Society of Research in Adolescence, Washington, D.C. Sun, S. L. (1994). Social development and school adaptation among children in Taiwan. Unpublished manuscript, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sussman, D. S. (1991). The effects of race and gender on adolescent coping strategies and self-destructive behaviors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Swift, M. (1982). Devereux elementary school behavior rating scale H manual. Devon, PA: The Devereux Foundation.
APPENDIX A Interpersonal C o m p e t e n c e S c a l e - - T e a c h e r F o r m Instruction. Please mark the appropriate rating for this student on each item. Work quickly and do not omit any item, using your own knowledge of the child as your guide. Use all of the points of the scale that apply. NX~n~ TI'tO~LIE
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Scoring. For each item, assign 1 to the leftmost box, 2 to the second leftmost box, and etc., to obtain the raw score for the item. On all items designated by an asterisk (*) [items # 2 , 463, # 6 , # 7 , 468, 469, 46 12, 46 13, # 16], subtract the raw scale score from 8.0 to obtain the item scale score. The items can then be employed to compute the factor scores as follows: A G G = (46 1 + 462* + 469*)/3 or [(Argue + Trouble* + Fight*)/3] ACA = (468* + 4# 1 1)/2 or [(Spelling* + Math)/2] POP = ( # 4 + 4: 1 2 " + # 13")/3 or [(Popular with boys + Popular with girls*+ Friends*)/3] A F F = (46 3* + 46 17)/2 or [(Smile* + Friendly)/2] OLY = (466* + 467* + 46 16")/3 or [(Sports* + Looking* + Win*)/3] INT = (46 5 + 46 10 + 46 15)/3 or [(sad + worry + shy)/3] To compute the overall SC score, first recode A G G by subtracting it from 8.0, then use the following formula: SC = (AGG + POP + ACA + A F F + OLY)/5
Computational illustrations. ICS-T scoring for a hypothetical subject: Item Number 1 2* 3* 4 5 6* 7* 8* 9* 10 11 12" 13" 14 15 16" 17 18
Item Raw score
Item Scaled score
5.0 3.5 4.0 6.0 2.0 1.0 5.0 4.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 3.0 5.0 2.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 3.0
5.0 4.5 4.0 6.O 2.0 7.0 3.0 4.0 2.0 7.0 7.0 5.0 3.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 2.0 3.0
Factor AGG AGG AFF POP INT OLY OLY ACA AGG 1NT ACA POP POP -INT OLY AFF --
Computation of factor scores: A G G = (5.0 + 4.5 + 2.0)/3 = 3.83 ACA = (4.0 + 7.0)/2 = 5.50 POP = (6.0 + 5.0 + 3.0)/3 = 4.67 A F F = (4.0 + 2.0)/2 = 3.00 OLY = (7.0 + 3.0 + 5.0)/3 = 500 INT = (2.0 + 7.0 + 4.0)/3 = 4.33 Computation of overall SC score: (I) Recode AGG: AGG,~od~ = 8.0 - 3.83 = 4.17 (2) use the factor scores (except INT) to compute the overall SC score: SC = (4.17 + 5.50 + 4.67 + 3.00 + 5.00)/5 = 4.47
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APPENDIX B Means and standard deviations of ICS-T scales for girls in CLS sample Grade 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
n
AGG
116
3,03 (1.65) 116 2.76 (1.65) 104 2.94 (1.48) 348 2.61 (1.50) 340 2.60 (1.46) 337 2.34 (1.39) 318 2.36 (1.26) 310 2.44 (1.21) 294 2.30 (1.14)
POP
ACA
AFF
OLY
SC
4.86 (1.29) 4.95 (1.43) 4.75 (1.21) 4.71 (1.23) 4.75 (1.27) 4.97 (1.19) 5.02 (1.09) 4.98 (1.13) 4.85 (1.16)
4.84 (1.75) 4.90 (1.63) 4.76 (1.55) 4.95 (1.47) 4.89 (1.49) 4.68 (1.49) 4.62 (1.19) 4.87 (1.27) 4.83 (1.22)
5.09 (1.21) 5.65 (1.22) 5.34 (1.15) 5.14 (1.18) 5.29 (1.21) 5.43 (1.18) 5.44 (1.08) 5.41 (1.15) 5.23 (1.14)
4.60 (I,23) 4,60 (1,16) 4.65 (0.98) 4.57 (0.95) 4.52 (1.03) 4.48 (1.07) 4.55 (0.99) 4.53 (0.85) 4.37 (1.02)
4.87 (1.01) 5.03 (0.97) 4.91 (0.92) 4.95 (0.89) 4.97 (0.91) 5.04 (0.94) 5.06 (0.79) 5.07 (0.82) 5.00 (0.73)
Note: Numbers in parentheses are standard deviations. CLS = Carolina Longitudinal Study.
APPENDIX C
Means and standard deviations o f I C S - T scales for boys in C L S sample Grade
n
AGG
POP
ACA
AFF
OLY
SC
4
103
5
84
6
89
7
314
8
313
9
308
I0
287
11
284
12
267
3.51 (1.76) 3.68 (1.62) 3.52 (1.80) 3.23 (1.55) 3.17 (1.60) 2.74 (1.562) 2.82 (1.34) 3.05 (1.45) 2.62 (1.33)
4.90 (1.37) 4.62 (1.48) 4.68 (1.39) 4.52 (1.15) 4.48 (1.25) 4.68 (1.13) 4.57 (1.14) 4.69 (1.18) 4.82 (1.18)
4.77 (1.60) 4.32 (1.72) 4.54 (1.59) 4.28 (1.51) 4.22 (1.65) 4.14 (1.65) 4.19 (1.32) 4.18 (1.28) 4.37 (1.26)
5.11 (1.26) 5.17 (1.37) 5.31 (1.12) 5.00 (1.10) 5.17 (1.23) 5.32 (1.17) 5.13 (1.21) 5.18 (1.18) 5.30 (1.14)
5.08 (1.07) 4.97 (1.16) 4.88 (1.03) 4.65 (0.94) 4.48 (1.05) 4.43 (1.06) 4.41 (1.05) 4.52 (0.97) 4.52 (1.00)
4.87 (1.06) 4.70 (1.02) 4.78 (0.96) 4.65 (0.84) 4.64 (0.94) 4.77 (0.86) 4.70 (0.84) 4.70 (0.80) 4.88 (0.72)
Note: Numbers in parentheses are standard deviations. CLS = Carolina Longitudinal Study.
Behar. Res. Ther. Vol. 33, No. 6, pp. 725-736, 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain
0005-7967(95)00004-6
A BRIEF METHOD FOR ASSESSING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: STRUCTURE, RELIABILITY, STABILITY, AND DEVELOPMENTAL VALIDITY OF THE INTERPERSONAL COMPETENCE SCALE ROBERT B. CAIRNS, MAN-CHI LEUNG, SCOTT D. GEST and BEVERLEY D. CAIRNS Center for Developmental Science, University of North Carolina, 521 South Greensboro St, C. B. 8115, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8115, U.S.A, (Received 18 December 1994)
Summary--The Interpersonal Competence Scale (ICS-T) is a set of brief rating scales for teachers and parents. It consists of 18 items that assess social and behavioral characteristics of children and youths. The ICS-T yields three primary factors: AGG (argues, trouble at school, fights), POP (popular with boys, popular with girls, lots of friends), and ACA (spelling, math). Subsidiary factors include AFF (smile, friendly), OLY (appearance, sports, wins), and INT (shyness, sad, worry). The psychometric properties of the scale (internal structure, reliability, long-term stability) are presented and evaluated over successive ages. The scale factors have been linked to contemporaneous observations of behavior and social network membership. Developmental validity of the ICS-T includes the significant prediction of later school dropout and teenage parenthood. The 1CS-T scale is described, along with instructions for use and scoring.
INTRODUCTION This article describes the Interpersonal Competence Scale (ICS-T), a method for assessing social development of children and adolescents through ratings by adults. Although the test was created to meet distinctive needs of longitudinal assessment, it has proved useful in other contexts that call for the brief assessment of social behavior. The ICS-T has been briefly described in some of our previous publications (Cairns & Cairns, 1984; Cairns, Cairns & Neckerman, 1989; Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Ferguson & Gariepy, 1989; Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Gest & Gariepy, 1988; Cairns, Perrin & Cairns, 1985). The purpose of the present article is to provide further information on the construction and psychometric properties of ICS-T.* Longitudinal research designs encounter special measurement problems which include, but extend beyond, the use of assessment devices on a single occasion (Cairns, 1991; Magnusson, 1988; Magnusson & Bergman, 1990). One pragmatic consideration is economy and the psychological burden of assessment. Longitudinal research requires continued cooperation by subjects and other key informants, including teachers and parents. To maintain cooperation and involvement, a balance must be struck between assessment breadth, depth, and complexity, on one hand, and measurement economy, simplicity, and efficiency, on the other. In addition, longitudinal assessment procedures should permit direct comparisons across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This need is in line with the goal of longitudinal study to plot normative trajectories and to establish the stability of individual differences. Beyond such methodological considerations, there is a need to anticipate instrument and construct obsolescence. Constructs that are accepted by the discipline when the longitudinal investigation begins may no longer be hegemonic 10, 20, or 30 yr later when the research matures (Kessen, 1960). It is desirable, therefore, for the items to assess concrete actions and dispositions that may endure beyond the life of the investigation. *Another form of ICS (i.e. ICS-S) was prepared in order to permit children and youth to describe themselves. The scales are identical, except for the format of presentation and the inclusion of 3 distracter items in the self version. Although the ICS-S yields factor structures that are generally similar to the ICS-T, the 2 scales have different psychometric characteristics and predictive power. The ICS-S will be described in a separate paper. 725
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Robert B. Cairns et al.
Such methodological and theoretical considerations were at the fore when we initiated the Carolina Longitudinal Study (CLS) in the 1970s. The reasons for using rating scales in addition to other procedures were outlined by Cairns and Green (1979). The larger research design involved the multi-level assessments of 695 Ss from 10 to 20 yr of age, along with parents, peers, and social networks (Cairns & Cairns, 1984, 1994). At one of the measurement levels, we planned to make annual assessments of social and behavioral competence as rated by the youth and their teachers. Given the number of primary Ss in the longitudinal research and additional informants who were to be involved each year, four criteria were followed in the development of the rating procedure, namely: 1. Brevity (i.e. the scale should be completed by an informant well acquainted with the child in 2-4 min); 2. Ease of administration and understanding (i.e. the completion of the scale should require no more than 3rd or 4th grade reading level); 3. Breadth of coverage (i.e. aggressive patterns, peer social acceptance, academic/school performance, affiliative propensities, status with respect to socially-admired characteristics of children and gender and age differences in these domains); 4. Flexibility in use, such that the rating scale could be used across ages by teachers, parents, and by children themselves to permit nomothetic and individual difference comparisons in the above competence domains. There were few comparable longitudinal investigations of social development in the U.S. when this study began, and then-available rating instruments failed to meet the above criteria on one or more counts. Although that state of affairs has now changed (Achenbach, 1991; Achenbach, Howell, Quay & Conners, 1991; Finkelman, Ferrarese & Garmezy, 1989; Gesten, 1976; Harter, 1982; Hightower, Work, Cowen Lotyczweski, Spinell, Guare & Rohrbeck, 1986; Quay & Peterson, 1987; Spivack & Swift, 1967; Swift, 1982), there remains a need for a brief yet psychometrically sound rating scale of social adaptation that can be employed over a broad age range.
DESCRIPTION, ADMINISTRATION, AND SCORING Description
The 18-item version of ICS-T is shown in Appendix A. Each item is presented as a unidimensional, 7-point bipolar scale. Seven small boxes located at equidistant intervals on a horizontal line define the choices. Informants are asked to fill in the box that describes the S on each item. The descriptors describe the points of the scale at the extremes and at the mid-point. To avoid response bias, the extremes are reversed so that the socially desirable alternatives (when these can be identified) occur on both the left and right extremes of the items. Originally there were 15 items in the Interpersonal Competence Scale. Three more items were added 7 yr after the beginning of the study. Since longitudinal validity results are not available for the factor described by these 3 items, ICS-T refers to the original 15-item version unless otherwise specified. Administration
Minimal instructions ordinarily prove sufficient for adult informants. For example, in school applications, the first requirement is to identify an individual (teacher, administrator, counselor) who feels that she/he knows the child well. That person is then given the ICS-T sheet, along with the written instructions: Please mark the appropriate rating for this student on each item. Work quickly and do not omit any item, using your own knowledge of the child as your guide. Use all of the points of the scale that apply. These instructions have been used at all grade levels of the longitudinal investigation from the 3rd grade (approximately 9 yr old) through 12th grade (approximately 18 yr old). Slight variations
Interpersonal Competence Scale
727
are necessary for administration to parents, grandparents, and spouses (i.e. replace the words 'this student' with 'your son', 'your granddaughter', etc.).
Scoring Each item represents a single dimension scored on a 7-point scale. The possible scores for each item range from 1 to 7. The general rule is that the higher the score for each item, the more descriptive is the characteristic of the S. Items were originally grouped into 5 subscales, assessing aggressiveness, popularity, academic achievement, social affiliation, and 'Olympian' quantities (i.e. sporting prowess, attractiveness and tendency to win at games, sports, etc.) (i.e. AGG, POP, ACA, AFF, OLY). Assignment of items to subscales were based on item content as well as prior research reports. Subscale scores also range from 1.0 to 7.0. The higher the score, the more descriptive is the subscale of the S. The assignment of items to subscales is also shown in Appendix A. The SC score (summed interpersonal competence score) is the unweighted mean of the 5 subscale scores, with the aggressive factor reversed in sign. Hence it is the unweighted mean of the informant's ratings of the S with respect to high POP, high AFF, high OLY, high ACA and low AGG. This summed SC score also ranges from 1.0 to 7.0, with 7.0 the highest level of SC and !.0 the lowest. ICS CONSTRUCTION The construction of the scale began with decisions on which domains to assess. These domains were determined in part by theoretical considerations and in part by a review of the social development literature (Cairns, 1979). The item content that was selected to assess these domains were drawn from a review of existing research applications and assessment procedures (e.g. Olweus, 1972, 1979) or were created especially for this instrument. The words and choices presented to the S were determined to be appropriate for children who could read at the third and fourth grade level, permitting both individual and group administration. Following preliminary studies with 350 third and fourth grade students and their teachers, 15 unidimensional, bi-polar scales were selected for inclusion into the instrument. The Ss for this initial construction, 8-10 yr of age, were drawn from a suburban, middle class school system. In refining the scale, standard psychometric considerations were followed to guard against positionand response-bias, with the positive dimension reversed, and the items ordered randomly to avoid clustering in assessment. The English version has been used in the United States for more than l0 yr. In addition, Chinese translations of the ICS have been employed in studies of social networks and social perception among school children in Hong Kong (Leung, 1993) and social behavior development in Taiwan (Sun, 1992, 1994). PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE INTERPERSONAL COMPETENCE SCALE
Results of longitudinal study Information on the psychometric properties of ICS were obtained primarily from the Carolina Longitudinal Study (CLS). The CLS sample has been described in other research reports (Cairns & Cairns, 1994; Cairns, Cairns & Neckerman, 1989; Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Ferguson & Gari6py, 1989; Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Gest & Gari6py, 1988). In brief, a total of 695 Ss (364 girls, 331 boys) were recruited from seven public schools in two cohorts. Cohort I was comprised of 220 4th grade Ss (116 girls, 104 boys; mean age = 10.2 yr, SD--0.57) from four elementary schools. Cohort II was comprised of 475 7th grade Ss (248 girls, 227 boys; mean age = 13.4 yr, SD = 0.58) from three middle schools. The mean family SES on the Duncan scale (Featherman revision) was 30.2 (SD = 17.1) in Cohort I and 31.6 (SD = 17.8) in Cohort II, and the full range of occupations was represented in the samples (range from 88 to 7; e.g. chair of medical center department, attorney, regional sales manager, small business owner, truck driver, domestic worker, unemployed farm worker). Twenty-five percent of the Ss were minority status (predominantly
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African-American). The seven schools were located in two counties of North Carolina: one, a suburban metropolitan area, and the other, a rural county, as classified by the 1980 U.S. census. There were no restrictions on inclusion other than consent; all children in the designated grade (4th or 7th) in each school were included in the study if (a) the children wished to participate and (b) they and their parent or legal guardian signed a statement of informed consent. The participation rate ranged from 89% in the last junior high school assessed (132/149) to 50% in the first junior high (83/166), with an overall participation of 70% (695/994). The 70% of the children who consented to be Ss and the 30% who did not were compared in terms of ethnic status, sex, and probability of being nominated as highly aggressive. No systematic differences were observed on any of these dimensions. Subjects were interviewed annually until high school graduation. Internal structure
In each of the first 2 yr of the Carolina Longitudinal Study, ICS-T was factor analyzed and evaluated by a LISREL measurement model. The aim was to determine whether the a priori grouping of items would be matched by empirically derived factors. As described below, the a priori grouping was consistent with the factors identified in the teacher ratings of 4th grade and 7th grade Ss. Following 9 yr of longitudinal investigation, factor analyses were then computed for each year for each cohort. lnitial analyses. Factor analysis was run on teacher ratings of the initial 2 yr. AGG, POP, and ACA emerged as distinct factors in both the elementary school and middle school samples. Two factor extraction methods were used in the analysis: Principal Component Analysis and Principal Axis Factoring. Minimum Eigen value of 1.0 was used as the criterion to determine the number of factors in the solution and Varimax was used to rotate the resulting factors. Virtually the same factor pattern was found by the two factor extraction methods except that factor loadings were slightly lower when Principal Axis Factoring was used. The rotated factor pattern of the Principal Component Analysis is shown in Tables 1a and 1b. Three to four factors were extracted, depending on age and gender. POP emerged as the first factor, with AGG and ACA being the second and the third. The fourth factor, when it appeared, usually included items such as 'smile', 'friendly' and 'cry'. A LISREL measurement model indicated an excellent fit of the hypothesized items to these clusters. For example, at the 7th grade level, the hypothesized structural equation with 3 latent variables (i.e. POP, AGG, ACA) yielded a Goodness of Fit Index = 0.98. The Z: with 17 degrees of freedom was 13.83 (P = 0.67), consistent with the goodness-of-fit statistic. This confirmatory factor analysis was representative of those conducted at the other grade levels, indicating that 3 separate factors may be reliably identified. In each case, the 3 factors were comprised of items that had been assigned to the factors on the basis of prior research reports and item content. The remaining 2 subsca|es (AFF, OLY) also showed significant clustering in these empirical factor analyses. These clusters were comprised of intercorrelated items and they sometimes appeared as separate factors. However, they typically migrated toward the general POP factor. Table la. Factor analysis of ICS-T: Cohort I (4th grade, females and males separately) Females Item description 4. Popular with boys 10. Popular with girls 11. Many friends 1. Argues 2. Gets in trouble 8, Gets into fights 7. G o o d at spelling 9. Good at math 3. Smiles a lot 14. Friendly 5. Good at sports 6, Good looking 13. Wins a lot 12, Gets own way 15, Cries Eigenvalue % Variance explained
Males
I
2
3
4
I
2
3
4
0.76 0.74 0.74 -0.20 --0.12 -0.07 0.15 0.38 0.46 0.03 0.68 0.63 0.71 -0.12 -0.12 5.31 35.40
-0.11 -0.37 -0,39 0.81 0.83 0.80 -0.23 -0.06 -0,16 -0.30 0.16 -0.18 -0.15 -0.28 0.53 2.32 15.47
0.14 0,13 0.09 0.23 -0.11 -0.03 0.79 0.73 -0.21 0.19 0.06 0.24 0.35 -0.65 -0.08 1.27 8.47
-0,11 0.21 0.29 0.17 -0.21 -0.26 0.10 0.04 0.69 0.83 0.12 0.02 0.19 0.07 -0.19 1.03 6.87
0.71 0.77 0,75 -0.19 -0.14 -0.03 0.20 0.10 0.41 0.19 0.76 0.77 0.54 -0.31 -0.10 5.92 39.47
-0.09 -0.10 -0.21 0.87 0.84 0.83 -0.33 -0.17 -0.10 -0.33 0.01 -0.14 -0.17 -0.27 0.46 2.28 15.20
0.13 0.23 0.23 -0.08 -0.31 -0.32 0.77 0.78 0.50 0.43 -0.08 0.15 0.41 -0.18 0.28 1.20 8.00
0.41 0.08 0.35 -0.10 -0.03 -0.02 -0.07 0.16 0.36 0,65 0.13 -0.04 0.32 -0.68 -0,57 1.0 I 6.73
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Table lb. Factor analysis of ICS-T: Cohort II (7th grade, females and males) Females Item description 4.
10. II. I. 2. 8. 7. 9. 3. 14. 5. 6. 13. 12. 15.
Popular with boys Popular with girls Has many friends Argues
Gets in trouble Gets into fights Good at spelling Good at math Smiles a lot Friendly
Good at sports Good looking Wins a lot
Gets their way Cries
Eigenvalue % Variance explained
Males
I
2
3
I
2
3
4
0.72 0.80 0.77 -0.12 -0.15 -0.06 0.24 0.12 0.71 0.57 0.47 0.69 0.59 -0.42 -0.01 4.93 32.87
-0.06 -0.24 -0.31 0.82 0.79 0.83 -0.29 -0.12 -0.09 -0.33 0.21 -0.11 0.17 -0.29 0.46 2.30 15.33
0.08 0.06 0.10 -0.11 -0.08 -0.09 0.64 0.73 0.17 0.18 0.16 0.06 0.36 -0.52 -0.49 1.14 7.60
0.62 0.79 0.76 -0.07 -0.18 0.08 0.25 0.08 0.51 0.32 0.59 0.67 0.69 -0.08 0.04 4.24 28.27
-0.12 -0.11 -0.18 0.82 0.82 0.75 -0.36 -0.35 0.16 -0.31 0.08 -0.08 -0.06 -0.39 0.16 2.29 15,27
-0.06 0.06 0.08 0.07 -0.20 -0.12 0.59 0.67 0.08 0.11 0.03 0.19 0.42 -0.69 0.01 1.24 8.27
-0.29 0.11 0.24 0.00 -0.05 -0.33 0.09 -0.07 0,45 0.50 0.40 0.00 0.01 -0.12 -0.73 1.13 7.53
It should also be noted that the factors themselves were intercorrelated. Inspection of the raw correlational matrix indicated that virtually all of the items were correlated positively when they were re-scored so that low totals reflected positive or socially desirable attributes. The same conclusion may be drawn from the initial Principal Components Analysis. Prior to rotation, the first factor in the Principal Components Analysis accounted for about one-third of the total variance among items, and most of the items were significantly loaded on this 'general positivity' factor. Longitudinal analyses. The availability of 9 yr of longitudinal data in one cohort (n = 220) and 6 yr in another cohort (n = 475) provided a unique opportunity to determine whether the internal structure of the ICS-T identified in childhood would be consistent with the structure observed in later years of adolescence. Although the same Ss were involved in the cohorts, different teachers provided ratings virtually every year. Factor analyses were computed separately for girls and boys in each data collection wave in both longitudinal samples. This yielded a total of 30 analyses (i.e. 9 data collection waves for Cohort I and 6 for Cohort II, each separately by gender). The mean age of the Ss in the first data collection of Cohorts I and II was 10.2 and 13.2 yr, respectively. Consistent with the initial analyses, the items that had been assumed to represent AGG, POP and ACA emerged in distinct factors in virtually all of the 30 analyses, regardless of gender or age. Specifically, the 3 AGG items were significantly loaded (/> 0.40) together on a distinct factor in 97% (29/30) of the analyses. The item 'argue' did not load in the same factor with the other 2 items (i.e. 'get in trouble' and 'fight') for cohort II girls at grade 12, and this was the only time these 3 items fell apart. The 2 items representing ACA loaded in the same factor in 97% (29/30) of the analyses, and the 3 POP items loaded together in 93% (28/30) (Table 2). Table 2. Frequencies of ICS-T subscales loaded in the same facto# for males and females AGG
Males AGG POP ACA AFF OLY Females AGG POP ACA AFF OLY
Factors b POP
ACA
AFF
OLY
15
0 14
I 0 15
1 5 1 14
0 10 1 4 12
14
0 14
I 2 14
5 9 0 15
0 8 I 4
11
~These frequencies are based on a total of 15 factor analyses. A subscale is considered as loaded on a factor if all of its items have a factor loading of 0.40 or higher on the factor. b Items for AGG (argue, trouble, fight), POP (popular with boys, popular with girls, friends), ACA (spelling, math), AFF (smile, friendly) and OLY (good at sports, good looking, win).
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The 2 items that represented A F F were on the same factor in 97% (29/30) of the analyses, but they loaded on the POP factor half of the time. The OLY factor showed a similar pattern. The items loaded together in 77% (23/30) of the analyses but usually they adhered to the POP factor. Among the 3 items that represented OLY, 'good at sports' and 'good looking' always clustered together except for cohort II girls at grade 8. Two items--'gets own way' and 'crying'--are not represented on the 5 factors. The 'gets own way' item was assumed to be a measure of dominance, but it was not linked to the A G G factor. The 'crying' item was expected to represent emotionality and gender differences. It typically occurs as a single item factor, if it appears at all, in the exploratory factor analyses involving the original 15 items. The ICS was revised in 1988 to assess an additional factor INT (internalizing problems), and three items, 'sad', 'worry' and 'shy', were added to form a new subscale. This new 18-item version was tested on the first cohort in grade I1 and 12, and a subsample of the second cohort in the 12th grade. Additional samples were drawn from elementary and middle schools, with a total of 231 boys and 277 girls in grade 4 to 7. Ten factor analyses, with the same extraction criterion and rotation method described above, were run with Ss of different sex and educational levels separated. The INT factor turned out to be a distinct factor in 7 of these 10 analyses and merged with the A F F factor on two other occasions (i.e. in grade 11 boys and one of the two samples of grade 12 boys). 'Crying a lot' also loaded in this INT factor 3 times. It should be noted that the addition of these 3 items did not change the structure of the other factors. In brief, 3 factors--AGG, POP, A C A - - a r e clearly identified across childhood and adolescence among both females and males. The subsidiary factors of A F F and OLY are linked to the SC factor and POP, although they have distinctive features that have proven useful in particular applications. Internal consistency. Cronbach ~ coefficients were computed separately for boys and girls for each assessment wave of the longitudinal cohorts. The results indicated that there were acceptable levels of internal consistency. The median as were 0.82 for the ICS-T A G G factor, 0.81 for the ICS-T POP factor, 0.71 for the ICS-T ACA factor, 0.71 for the ICS-T A F F factor, 0.67 for the ICS-T OLY factor, and 0.84 for summed SC factor score.
Test-retest reliability and stability Results that pertain to two kinds of test-retest reliability (short-term retest and long-term stability) are summarized below. Short-term test-retest: reliability. In general, the primary ICS-T subscales have proved to be robust when assessed over the short-term (3-week inter-test interval). As reported elsewhere (Cairns, Leung, Buchanan & Cairns, 1991), samples of 4th grade (n = 58) and 7th grade children (n = 78) were re-assessed in the spring semester on two occasions separated by a 3-week interval. These schools were two of those which had been sampled 8 yr earlier to obtain the original CLS cohorts. The 3-week test-retest reliability correlations for the two grades are shown in Table 3. Note that the coefficients are high across the board for the subscales and for the summed SC factor score. When combined across gender and grade, the median correlations were r = 0.89 for the A G G factor, r = 0.82 for the POP factor, r = 0.88 for the ACA factor, r = 0.69 for the A F F factor, r = 0.87 for the OLY factor and r = 0.91 for summed SC factor score. Long-term test-retest: stability. Long-term individual difference stability of ICS-T scores were also assessed in CLS samples (Table 4). Despite the multiple sources of change (e.g. different judges, normative age-related changes, different school contexts, and individual difference shifts), reasonable stability was observed. The median individual difference stability correlations across the 1-yr interval (combining across gender and grade) were moderately strong: r = 0.47 for AGG, r = 0.42 for POP, r = 0.49 for ACA, r = 0.27 for AFF, r = 0.40 for OLY, and r = 0.52 for the summed SC factor score. Although there was continued decay in individual-difference stability over longer intervals, Pearson correlations remained in the range of 0.20 to 0.50 across 5-yr and 8-yr intervals, except for the A F F factor. Further analyses of these stabilities and changes appear in companion investigations (Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Ferguson & Gari6py, 1989; Cairns & Cairns, 1994). Between-rater agreement. The level of agreement between independent raters ranged from 0.80 to 0.88 when assessments were made in the 4th grade and 7th grade classrooms (e.g. Cairns et al., 1985; Cairns & Cairns, 1984). For example, consider the inter-observer agreement reported by
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Table 3. Three-week test-retest reliability coefficients for the 1CS-T scale scores Grade AGG Females Males POP Females Males ACA Females Males AFF Females Males OLY Females Males Overall SC Females Males
4
7
0.92 0.89
0.73 0.89
0.80 0.84
0.80 0.89
0.89 0.83
0.87 0.86
0.66 0.89
0.58 0.71
0.89 0.87
0.81 0.86
0.92 0.89
0.92 0.89
Note: Numbers represent correlation co-
efficients.
Cairns and Cairns (1984) for the AGG factor (comprised of 3 items; namely, 'gets in trouble at school', 'fights a lot', and 'always argues'). The concurrent between-rater reliability for the AGG factor scores in assessments were r(35) = 0.82 and r(26) = 0.78 (Fisher Z-averaged r = 0.81). These two-person interrater reliabilities compare favorably with those reported in other studies (e.g. Olweus, 1979) and prior reliabilities reported with the present scale (Cairns & Cairns, 1984).
Developmental validity Contemporaneous and longitudinal outcomes have been related to ICS-T scores. Some relationships that are of special interest for social development are summarized below. Adjustment in early maturity. In embedded subgroups in each CLS longitudinal cohort, 40 children who were nominated for extreme aggressive risk by teachers were individually matched to 40 children (on gender, classroom attended, physical size) who were not nominated for extreme aggressive risk. Composite indices of early adult adjustment were available for these 80 persons. The composite index included imprisonment, early high school dropout, arrest for assault, teenage parenthood, residential treatment for serious psychiatric disturbance, attempted suicide and Table 4. Long-term stability of ICS-T scale scores 1 yr AGG Females Males POP Females Males ACA Females Males AFF Females Males OLY Females Males Overall SC Females Males
Cohort I 4yr
8 yr
! yr
Cohort II 3 yr
5 yr
0.49 0.50
0.29 0.41
0.30 0.46
0.44 0.45
0.40 0.37
0.25 0.38
0.48 0.44
0.30 0.31
0.26 0.13
0.39 0.38
0.32 0.29
0.24 0.20
0.45 0.53
0.35 0.35
0.39 0.46
0.47 0.51
0.37 0.49
0.39 0.31
0.27 0.32
0.23 0.16
0.21 -0.07
0.18 0.26
0.16 0.11
0.12 0.08
0.40 0.37
0.28 0.26
0.22 0.20
0.41 0.39
0.32 0.26
0.29 0.30
0.53 0.54
0.32 0.37
0.30 0.26
0.50 0.46
0.35 0.30
0.30 0.31
Note: Numbers represent correlation coefficients. For Cohort I, coefficients refer
to the median of the eight 1-year intervals (4th-5th, 5th~th, etc.), five 4-year intervals (4th-8th, 5th-9th, etc.), and one 8-year interval (4th-I 2th) between grades 4 and 12. For Cohort II, coefficients refer to the median of the five 1-year intervals (7th-8th, 8th-9th, etc.), three 3-year intervals (7th-10th, 8th-llth, 9th-12th), and one 5-year interval (7th-12th) between grades 7 and 12.
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Robert B. Cairns et aL
mortality (Cairns & Cairns, 1994). A multiple regression analysis was completed for each of the two cohorts, with the 3 primary ICS-T subscales (i.e. AGG, ACA, POP) and gender included as predictor variables and adjustment in early adulthood as the outcome variable. The multiple R was robust and highly significant (R = 0.53, P < 0.001) in the older sample. This cohort involved Ss 13.6 yr of age at initial assessment, and the ICS-T AGG score emerged as the only significant predictor. In the sample that was younger at first test, the multiple R was marginally significant (R = 0.34, P < 0.05). This longitudinal sample involved Ss 10.4 yr of age at initial assessment, and the ICS-T POP score emerged as the single significant predictor. Gender did not appear as a significant predictor at either grade level. Early school dropout. ICS-T subscale scores obtained in the 4th grade and 7th grade were linked in two separate samples to early school dropout in the 1lth grade (7 yr and 4 yr after the ICS assessment, respectively). As reported in Cairns, Cairns and Neckerman (1989), a robust relationship was found between the ICS-T AGG and ACA factors and subsequent school dropout, when these effects were evaluated by a multiple logistic regression model separately for males (R = 0.35, P < 0.001) and females (R = 0.40, P < 0.001). Similarly, ICS-T subscale scores emerged as significant indicators of early school dropout in the multiple logistic regression models for girls (R = 0.38, P < 0.001) and boys (R = 0.31, P < 0.01) in the 4th grade. AGG and ACA typically were represented in the final model. Teenage parenthood. Subsequent teenage parenthood was associated with ICS-T scores in the 4th and 7th grade (see Cairns & Cairns, 1994). In separate analyses conducted by cohort, grade, and gender, the individual subscale scores that consistently emerged as reliable predictors were AGG and ACA. Logistic regressions were completed where teenage parenthood was the dependent variable. All predictive equations were significant (P < 0.001), with the multiple correlations ranging from R = 0.25 to R = 0.45. ACA proved to be consistently represented in the final model, typically in combination with AGG. ICS-T POP factor score was inconsistently having a negative association with teenage parenthood, remaining in the final regression equation in only one of the six models (i.e. 7th grade girls, Cohort II). This effect was not replicated in the same sex-grade group of Cohort I, where ACA was the only variable in the predictive equation (R = 0.35, P < 0.001). Direct observations and peer nominations. Extensive observations over 4 consecutive days were completed for children of extreme aggressive risk and their matched control as described above. Correlations were computed between ICS-T subscale scores and summary measures of the rate of negative, hostile behavior and positive, cooperative behaviors. The direct behavioral observations of negative, hostile conflicts were significantly associated with ICS-T AGG scores in the 4 age-sex groups (median r = 0.55, P < 0.01). Similarly, the ICS-T AGG score was significantly related to peer nominations of persons who started conflicts or who caused them trouble (median r = 0.58). The ICS-T POP subscale was not, however, consistently or strongly linked to direct observation of positive interactions, except for the older cohort of females. POP score was related to social group status, as measured by number of occasions named to social groups (Cairns et al., 1985). Social network membership. ICS-T scores are significantly associated with social network membership, in that persons with high (or low) AGG scores tend to be in the same social groups (Cairns et al., 1988). The intraclass correlation using the ICS-T AGG score was significant for the 4th grade boys ( r ' = 0.75), 7th grade boys ( r ' = 0.43) and 7th grade girls ( r ' = 0.37). To a lesser extent, children with high ACA scores tend to affiliate with each other. ICS-T POP scores do not differentiate the social network membership of males, although POP scores are related in females (Cairns & Cairns, 1994). ACA plays a larger role, as expected, in the social networks of children in Hong Kong and Taipei than comparable-aged children in the U.S. (Leung, 1993; Sun, 1992). Additional applications. The brevity and simplicity of the instrument promotes its use in diverse settings. The ICS-T has been employed to access the relationship between aggressive behavior and self-destructive acts in high school students (Sussman, 1991), the social group formation during summer camp among girls (Edwards, 1990), social patterns among juveniles incarcerated in a high-risk residential facility (Clarke, 1993), social networks and self-other discrepancies (Leung, 1993).
Interpersonal Competence Scale
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DISCUSSION In longitudinal and preventive intervention research, there is often a need for a brief and simple instrument to assess the interpersonal competence of children. Given the difficulty of securing cooperation from individual teachers and administrators, the ICS provides an alternative to or supplement for other more costly rating procedures. Economy in ICS administration was not purchased at the cost of the psychometric considerations of internal consistency, reliability, and developmental validity. The ICS-T measure yields coherent and consistent factors, and these factors have reasonable predictive stability and validity. These outcomes were not unexpected. At the beginning of this work, we observed that ratings provide an economical way to summarize a great deal of useful individual difference information (Cairns & Green, 1979). Once the major sources of variance that contribute to these perceptions/evaluations of other persons are identified, there should be only modest gains to increasing the length of the assessment procedures (Cairns, 1990; Cairns & Cairns, 1988; Magnusson, 1988).* It is now generally recognized that the correlation between the self-ratings of a child and the rating of the child by persons who know him/her well tends to be modest in most dimensions of social behavior (see Achenbach, McConaughy & Howell, 1987). Moreover, ratings outside the self (i.e. teacher, peer) typically provide higher levels of prediction to both contemporaneous observations and developmental outcomes (Cairns & Cairns, 1988, 1994).t Accordingly, it cannot be assumed that self-ratings of a given dimension can substitute for ratings beyond the self, even when the same items are employed by the self and others. Although ICS was originally designed for normal population, it has also been successfully used with a population of violent, incarcerated youths (Clarke, 1993). The instrument can be readily adapted to other clinical samples where ratings can be provided by staff, supervisors, and researchers, possibly as a screening device. Prior to general use as a group screening or individual assessment technique, however, it seems important to obtain further information on the contextspecific and sample-specific properties of the instrument. In summary, it is possible to routinely obtain information on social behaviors in natural settings by use of the ICS-T. Although the scale is deceptively modest in construction and requires only a brief time for administration, it yields robust and reliable factor scores on basic social and cognitive domains. These factor scores, and the configurations they describe, provide robust assessments of current behaviors and reliable predictions of future social adjustment.
REFERENCES Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Integrative guide for the 1991 CBCL/4-18, YSR, and TRF profiles. University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry: Burlington. Achenbach, T. M., Howell, C. T., Quay, H. C. & Conners, C. K. (1991). National survey of problems and competencies among four- to sixteen-year-olds: Parents' reports for normative and clinical samples. Monographs of the Society for Research in ChiM Development, Serial No. 225, 55. Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H. & Howell, C. T. (1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 213-232. Cairns, R. B. (1979). Social development: The origins and plasticity of social interchanges. San Francisco: Freeman. Cairns, R. B. (1990). Developmental epistemology and self knowledge: Towards a reinterpretation of self-esteem. In Tobach, E. & Greenberg, G. (Eds), Theories of the evolution of knowing: The T. C. Schneirla conference series (Vol. 4, pp. 69-86). Hillsdale, NJ: LEA. Cairns, R. B. (1991). Multiple metaphors for a singular idea. Developmental Psychology, 27, 23-26. Cairns, R. B. & Cairns, B. D. (1984). Predicting aggressive patterns in girls and boys: A developmental study. Aggressive Behavior, 10, 227-242. Cairns, R. B. & Cairns, B. D. (1988). The sociogenesis of self concepts. In Bolger, N., Caspi, A., Downey, G. & Moorehouse, M. (Eds), Persons in social context: Developmental processes (pp. 181-202). New York: Cambridge University Press. Cairns, R. B, & Cairns, B. D. (1994). Lifelines and risks: Pathways of youth in our time. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Cairns, R. B., Cairns, B. D. & Neckerman, H. J. (1989). Early school dropout: Configurations and determinants. Child Development, 60, 1437-1452. *By way of analogy, it should not be necessary to draw a liter of blood when only a cubic centimeter is required for diagnosis. While the above analogy may hold when evaluating individuals by ratings, it surely does not apply to direct behavioral observations (Cairns & Green, 1979). Extensive observations are required in order to identify between-individual differences by direct observation. tCairns, Leung, Gest and Cairns, in preparation.
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Cairns, R. B., Cairns, B. D., Neckerman, H. J., Ferguson, L. L. & Gari~py, J. L. (1989). Growth and aggression: I. Childhood to early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 25, 320-330. Cairns, R. B., Cairns, B. D., Neckerman, H. J., Gest, S. & Gari~py, J. L. (1988). Social networks and aggressive behavior: Peer support or peer rejection? Developmental Psychology, 24, 815-823. Cairns, R. B. & Green, J. A. (1979). How to assess personality and social patterns: Ratings or observations? In Cairns, R. B. (Ed.), The analysis of social interaction: Methods, issues, and illustrations (pp. 209-226). Hillsdale, N J: Erlbaum. Cairns, R. B., Leung, M. C., Buchanan, L. & Cairns, B. D. (1991): Friendships and social networks in childhood and early adolescence: Short-term stability and fluidity. Unpublished manuscript, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Cairns, R. B., Perrin, J. E. & Cairns, B. D. (1985). Social structure and social cognition in early adolescence: Afliliative patterns. Journal of Early Adolescence, 5, 339-355. Clarke, J. G. (1993). Social networks and conventional attachments of violent and assaultive adolescents. Unpublished Masters thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Edwards, C. A. (1990). Leadership, social networks, and personal attributes in school age girls. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Finkelman, D., Ferrarese, N. J. & Garmezy, N. (1989). A factorial, reliability, and validity study of the Devereux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale. Psychological Reports, 64, 535-547. Gesten, E. (1976). A Health Resources Inventory: The development of a measure of the personal and social competence of primary grade children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 44, 775-786. Hatter, S. (1982). The Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Child Development, 53, 87-97. Hightower, A. D., Work, W. C., Cowen, E. L., Lotyczewski, B. S., Spinell, A. P., Guare, J. C. & Rohrbeek, C. A. (1986). The Teacher-Child Rating Scale: A brief objective measure of elementary children's school problem behaviors and competencies. School Psychology Review, 15, 393-409. Kessen, W. (1960). Research design in the study of developmental problems. In Mussen, P. H. (Ed.), Handbook of research methods in child development (pp. 36-70). New York: Wiley. Leung, M. C. (1993). Social cognition and social networks of Chinese school children in Hong Kong. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Magnusson, D. (1988). Individual development from an interactional perspective. In Magnusson, D. (Ed.), Paths through life: A longitudinal research program (Vol. 1). Hillsdale, N J: LEA. Magnusson, D. & Bergrnan, L. R. (1990). (Eds) Data quality in longitudinal research. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Olweus, D. (1972). Personality and aggression. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 20, 261-321. Olweus, D. (1979). Stability of aggressive reaction patterns in males: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 852-875. Quay, H. C. & Peterson, D. R. (1987). Manual for the revised behavior problem checklist. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami, Department of Psychology. Spivack, G. & Swift, M. (1967). Devereux elementary school behavior rating scale manual. Devon, PA: The Devereux Foundation. Sun, S. L. (1992, March). Social relationships of children and adolescents in Taiwan. Poster presented at meeting of Society of Research in Adolescence, Washington, D.C. Sun, S. L. (1994). Social development and school adaptation among children in Taiwan. Unpublished manuscript, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sussman, D. S. (1991). The effects of race and gender on adolescent coping strategies and self-destructive behaviors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Swift, M. (1982). Devereux elementary school behavior rating scale H manual. Devon, PA: The Devereux Foundation.
APPENDIX A Interpersonal C o m p e t e n c e S c a l e - - T e a c h e r F o r m Instruction. Please mark the appropriate rating for this student on each item. Work quickly and do not omit any item, using your own knowledge of the child as your guide. Use all of the points of the scale that apply. NX~n~ TI'tO~LIE
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Scoring. For each item, assign 1 to the leftmost box, 2 to the second leftmost box, and etc., to obtain the raw score for the item. On all items designated by an asterisk (*) [items # 2 , 463, # 6 , # 7 , 468, 469, 46 12, 46 13, # 16], subtract the raw scale score from 8.0 to obtain the item scale score. The items can then be employed to compute the factor scores as follows: A G G = (46 1 + 462* + 469*)/3 or [(Argue + Trouble* + Fight*)/3] ACA = (468* + 4# 1 1)/2 or [(Spelling* + Math)/2] POP = ( # 4 + 4: 1 2 " + # 13")/3 or [(Popular with boys + Popular with girls*+ Friends*)/3] A F F = (46 3* + 46 17)/2 or [(Smile* + Friendly)/2] OLY = (466* + 467* + 46 16")/3 or [(Sports* + Looking* + Win*)/3] INT = (46 5 + 46 10 + 46 15)/3 or [(sad + worry + shy)/3] To compute the overall SC score, first recode A G G by subtracting it from 8.0, then use the following formula: SC = (AGG + POP + ACA + A F F + OLY)/5
Computational illustrations. ICS-T scoring for a hypothetical subject: Item Number 1 2* 3* 4 5 6* 7* 8* 9* 10 11 12" 13" 14 15 16" 17 18
Item Raw score
Item Scaled score
5.0 3.5 4.0 6.0 2.0 1.0 5.0 4.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 3.0 5.0 2.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 3.0
5.0 4.5 4.0 6.O 2.0 7.0 3.0 4.0 2.0 7.0 7.0 5.0 3.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 2.0 3.0
Factor AGG AGG AFF POP INT OLY OLY ACA AGG 1NT ACA POP POP -INT OLY AFF --
Computation of factor scores: A G G = (5.0 + 4.5 + 2.0)/3 = 3.83 ACA = (4.0 + 7.0)/2 = 5.50 POP = (6.0 + 5.0 + 3.0)/3 = 4.67 A F F = (4.0 + 2.0)/2 = 3.00 OLY = (7.0 + 3.0 + 5.0)/3 = 500 INT = (2.0 + 7.0 + 4.0)/3 = 4.33 Computation of overall SC score: (I) Recode AGG: AGG,~od~ = 8.0 - 3.83 = 4.17 (2) use the factor scores (except INT) to compute the overall SC score: SC = (4.17 + 5.50 + 4.67 + 3.00 + 5.00)/5 = 4.47
B R T 33/6--I
Robert B. Cairns et al.
736
APPENDIX B Means and standard deviations of ICS-T scales for girls in CLS sample Grade 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
n
AGG
116
3,03 (1.65) 116 2.76 (1.65) 104 2.94 (1.48) 348 2.61 (1.50) 340 2.60 (1.46) 337 2.34 (1.39) 318 2.36 (1.26) 310 2.44 (1.21) 294 2.30 (1.14)
POP
ACA
AFF
OLY
SC
4.86 (1.29) 4.95 (1.43) 4.75 (1.21) 4.71 (1.23) 4.75 (1.27) 4.97 (1.19) 5.02 (1.09) 4.98 (1.13) 4.85 (1.16)
4.84 (1.75) 4.90 (1.63) 4.76 (1.55) 4.95 (1.47) 4.89 (1.49) 4.68 (1.49) 4.62 (1.19) 4.87 (1.27) 4.83 (1.22)
5.09 (1.21) 5.65 (1.22) 5.34 (1.15) 5.14 (1.18) 5.29 (1.21) 5.43 (1.18) 5.44 (1.08) 5.41 (1.15) 5.23 (1.14)
4.60 (I,23) 4,60 (1,16) 4.65 (0.98) 4.57 (0.95) 4.52 (1.03) 4.48 (1.07) 4.55 (0.99) 4.53 (0.85) 4.37 (1.02)
4.87 (1.01) 5.03 (0.97) 4.91 (0.92) 4.95 (0.89) 4.97 (0.91) 5.04 (0.94) 5.06 (0.79) 5.07 (0.82) 5.00 (0.73)
Note: Numbers in parentheses are standard deviations. CLS = Carolina Longitudinal Study.
APPENDIX C
Means and standard deviations o f I C S - T scales for boys in C L S sample Grade
n
AGG
POP
ACA
AFF
OLY
SC
4
103
5
84
6
89
7
314
8
313
9
308
I0
287
11
284
12
267
3.51 (1.76) 3.68 (1.62) 3.52 (1.80) 3.23 (1.55) 3.17 (1.60) 2.74 (1.562) 2.82 (1.34) 3.05 (1.45) 2.62 (1.33)
4.90 (1.37) 4.62 (1.48) 4.68 (1.39) 4.52 (1.15) 4.48 (1.25) 4.68 (1.13) 4.57 (1.14) 4.69 (1.18) 4.82 (1.18)
4.77 (1.60) 4.32 (1.72) 4.54 (1.59) 4.28 (1.51) 4.22 (1.65) 4.14 (1.65) 4.19 (1.32) 4.18 (1.28) 4.37 (1.26)
5.11 (1.26) 5.17 (1.37) 5.31 (1.12) 5.00 (1.10) 5.17 (1.23) 5.32 (1.17) 5.13 (1.21) 5.18 (1.18) 5.30 (1.14)
5.08 (1.07) 4.97 (1.16) 4.88 (1.03) 4.65 (0.94) 4.48 (1.05) 4.43 (1.06) 4.41 (1.05) 4.52 (0.97) 4.52 (1.00)
4.87 (1.06) 4.70 (1.02) 4.78 (0.96) 4.65 (0.84) 4.64 (0.94) 4.77 (0.86) 4.70 (0.84) 4.70 (0.80) 4.88 (0.72)
Note: Numbers in parentheses are standard deviations. CLS = Carolina Longitudinal Study.