Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) as an Evidence-Based Practical Index of Children's Social Skills and Parenting

Tokie Anme,Emiko Tanaka,Amarsanaa Gan-Yadam,Japan Children's Study Group Japan Children'S Study Group,Noriko Yamakawa,Kentaro Morita,Yoko Onda,Yukiko Mochizuki,Yuka Sugisawa,Yuko Yato,Ryoji Shinohara,Etsuko Tomisaki,Lian Tong,Maki Hirano,Taeko Watanabe,Yuri Kawashima

doi:10.2188/jea.je20090171

Abstract

BackgroundThe purpose of this paper is to describe the features of the Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) as an evidence-based practical index of children’s social skills and parenting.MethodsThe participants in our study, which was conducted as part of a Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) project, were 370 dyads of children (aged 18, 30, and 42 month) and 81 dyads of 7-year-old children with their caregivers. The participants completed the five minute interaction session and were observed using the IRS.ResultsThe results indicated that the IRS can measure children’s social skill development and parenting with high validity. Along with the discriminate validity for pervasive development disorder (PDD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), abuse and maltreatment, a high correlation with the SDQ (Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire), and high reliability, the IRS is effective in describing features of social skill development.ConclusionsThe IRS provides further evidence of the fact that in order to study children’s social skill development, it is important to evaluate various features of the caregiver-child interaction as a predictor of social skills.

Highlights

The study of children’s social development has attracted caregivers, practitioners, and researchers from all over the world
The purpose of this paper is to describe the features of Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) as an evidence-based practical index of children’s social skills and parenting
The analysis of the IRS by age showed that IRS has high validity for cohort studies, because it can be used with the same subscales framework across ages from infants to 8-year-old

Summary

Introduction

The study of children’s social development has attracted caregivers, practitioners, and researchers from all over the world. The purpose of this paper is to describe the features of the Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) as an evidence-based practical index of children’s social skills and parenting. Results: The results indicated that the IRS can measure children’s social skill development and parenting with high validity. Along with the discriminate validity for pervasive development disorder (PDD), attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), abuse and maltreatment, a high correlation with the SDQ (Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire), and high reliability, the IRS is effective in describing features of social skill development. Conclusions: The IRS provides further evidence of the fact that in order to study children’s social skill development, it is important to evaluate various features of the caregiver-child interaction as a predictor of social skills

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