Issues in Social Interaction/Withdrawal Assessment

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to review several practical and methodological issues related to the development of assessment instruments for child soc ial interaction and soc ial withdrawal. Specifically, the roles of (a) soc iometric peer rat ings, (b) behavioral observation measures . and (c) teacher ratings are discussed in relationship to their valid ity, reliability, and normative data characteristics. These measures are further discussed from the perspective of their usage in screening/identification and treatment evaluation. The role of normative data in facilitating screen ing/identification and treatment evaluation processes is also reviewed. Finally. the development 01 a soc ial interaction assessment instrument for identifying socially withdrawn children is described.

The association between social withdrawal and internalizing problems of children

“…Unlike previous investigations, in which interaction rate was not associated with peer acceptance in younger populations (Deutsch, 1974;Gottman, 1977;Rosen, 1978, as cited in Asher et al, 1981Rubin, 1985), children identified as low frequency interactors were described as less well fiked, more disliked, and less enjoyable as playmates by their peers when compared to sociable children. The disparate findings of the present and previous studies suggest that social isolation may not affect sociometric status until children reach later developmental stages, perhaps when children are less commonly found to engage in solitary activities and are typically found to be more interactive (Greenwood, Walker, & Hops, 1977).…”

The Effectiveness of Interpersonal Skills Training on the Social Skill Acquisition of Moderately and Mildly Retarded Adults

“…Despite this recognition, social skill development has been largely ignored from the standpoint of developing effective intervention procedures for those who are deficient in interpersonal behaviors (Greenwood, Walker, & Hops, 1977;Strain, Cooke & Apolloni, 1976).…”

Selecting a Cost‐effective Screening Measure for the Assessment of Preschool Social Withdrawal

“…The system was developed to operate within a behavioral framework geared toward intervention by organizing a continuum of assessment functions. The system currently focuses on (1) screening of all children in a preschool class group, (2) identification of skill deficiency areas and determination of behavior change objectives, (3) frequent monitoring of intervention effects during a behavior change program, and (4) assessing effects at follow-up, after intervention (Cone and Hawkins, 1977;Greenwood et al, 1977).…”

“…the measure in the natural setting, (3) the measure bears a substantial direct relationship to the behavior it predicts, (4) the instrument must be reliable, and (5) the instrument must be used in continuity with other assessment measures to complete problem definition, monitoring, and follow-up assessment functions essential to effective treatment (Greenwood et at., 1977;Hops and Greenwood, in press). The present study was designed to identify and evaluate screening measures for social withdrawal and limited social responsiveness in preschool children that could be effectively used by teachers.…”

“…This study was designed to improve upon prior studies of teacher and peer judgment methods by including (a) three measurement sources, within the same study, i.e., peers, teacher, and direct observation (Greenwood et al, 1977), (b) a large N based upon 299 preschool students and 20 classroom units, (c) observation data defined and recorded to ensure representation of reciprocity in child-child interactions (Strain and Shores, 1977), and (d) observational data collection in two distinct classroom structure/settings to assess the generality of the results.…”