Further Examination of Job-Related Social Skills Measures for Adolescents and Young Adults with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Abstract

This study utilized two measures of job-related social behavior for adolescents and young adults—the Scale of Job-related Social Skill Knowledge (SSSK) and the Scale of Job-related Social Skill Performance (SSSP)—that had been developed in an earlier study. In the previous research, conceptually derived subsections of the two measures yielded high intercorrelations, suggesting the need to conduct further analyses to refine and possibly shorten both instruments. Both measures underwent item reduction analyses. After deleting 16 items a shortened SSSK contained 40 items. Factor analysis of the SSSP yielded six factors with a total of 94 items. Reliability analyses of the shortened SSSK and the six SSSP factors yielded acceptable results, and both measures powerfully discriminated among logically distinct subgroups. Logistic regression analyses identified those variables that discriminated most powerfully between persons with emotional and behavioral disorders and/or persons who had been arrested and persons without these characteristics. Results had implications for job-related social skills assessment and training and future research on the measures.