Promoting Social Competence Among Severely Emotionally Disturbed Youth: Development of a Social Competence Inventory

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper describes the development of The Seriously Emotionally Disturbed Adolescent Social Competence Inventory (SEDASCI). The goal is to provide an instrument which can be used in the design of social skills programs targeting the social problems of seriously emotionally disturbed youth. A Behavior-Analytic Model was used in which empirically-based problematic life tasks were systematically identified and subsequently written into problem situations. These situations were evaluated by a second sample of seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents according to their perceived frequency, difficulty, and importance. A range of responses to the problem situations were solicited from a third sample of seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents, and their responses were evaluated by persons who assess social competence in the natural environment of these youth. Finally, an inventory was created that provides the problem statements, examples of responses ranging from competent to incompetent, and operational definitions for assigning scores to responses. The final inventory contains 42 items, which describe problems encountered with parents, peers, and staff at residential treatment centers.