A Women's Heterosocial Skill Observational Rating System

Abstract

A recurrent deficit in the heterosocial competence literature has been the lack of a behavioral assessment instrument that evaluates a broad range of important component behaviors or skills during an extended interaction. To remedy this deficit, two studies conducted with college women are reported. The first study describes the application of the behavior-analytic model in the identification of women's heterosocial skills using male and female peers as judges. Behaviorally referenced, three-point nominal and ordinal scales were then developed, and each skill was rated using an interval recording procedure. The second study describes the validation of a behavioral assessment instrument (the Heterosocial Skill Observational Rating System or HESORS) designed to evaluate these skills. The reliability, internal structure, discriminant validity, and criterion validity of the HESORS were found to be psychometrically acceptable. The implications of this research in terms of empirical and methodological consideratons are discussed.