Cross-informant agreement for ratings for social skill and problem behavior ratings: An investigation of the Social Skills Improvement System—Rating Scales.

Abstract

One of the most consistent findings in rating scale research with children and adolescents is the modest agreement among different informants' ratings. The present study systematically explored patterns of agreement among teachers, parents/caregivers, and students in domains of social skills and problem behaviors using the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS; F. M. Gresham & S. N. Elliott, 2008). Two subsamples from the normative sample of the SSIS-RS were used. The first sample of participants consisted of 168 students who had all 3 informants (parent, teacher, and self) complete the SSIS-RS scales, which was necessary to assess agreement across different raters. The second sample consisted of 164 students who had raters in a similar or same role (father-mother, teacher-teacher). The results replicated an extensive literature showing that cross-informant agreements for social skills and problem behaviors are weak to moderate. The current study invoked multitrait-multimethod logic to interpret the correlations among raters derived from different informants and showed that the convergent validity coefficients were consistently stronger than the discriminant validity correlations. Implications for assessment practices and future research are discussed.

Social Competence as a Mediating Factor in Reduction of Behavioral Problems

“…These relatively low correlations between informants are consistent with previous research (Achenbach, McConaughy, & Howell, 1987;Briggs-Gowan, Carter, & SchwabStone, 1996;Ferdinand, van der Ende, & Verhulst, 2007;Gresham, Elliot, Cook, Vance, & Kettler, 2010;Israel, Thomsen, Langeveld, & Stormark, 2007). Teachers and parents observe participants in different situations in which different types of social competence are required.…”

Teasing and social rejection among obese children enrolling in family-based behavioural treatment: effects on psychological adjustment and academic competencies

“…In fact, a consistent finding in rating scale research with youngsters is a modest agreement that is generally observed among different informants' ratings. 58,59 In this study and in the study of Zeller et al, 10 higher rates of child emotional concern were reported by parents than by children themselves. This observation could therefore be explained in part by this finding and the effects of parental psychological maladjustment.…”

Comparando Indicadores Psicométricos de Duas Versões Brasileiras do Social Skills Rating System : Uma Revisão da Literatura

“…Apenas para a escala de habilidades sociais na versão para estudantes, a porcentagem de variância explicada apresentou-se abaixo do mínimo esperado (36,96%). Esse resultado mais modesto observado na escala para estudantes reproduz o padrão obtido nos estudos de validação anteriores (Gresham & Elliott, 1990;Bandeira et al, 2009) e está provavelmente relacionado a vieses associados à autoavaliação de habilidades sociais por crianças, frequentemente relatados na literatura (Barreto et al, 2011;Freitas & Del Prette, 2010c;Gresham, Elliott, Cook, Vance, & Kettler, 2010).…”