Social cognition and object relations scale: Convergent validity and changes following intensive inpatient treatment

Abstract

To assess the convergent validity and clinical utility of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (SCORS), we utilized data on treatment-resistant young adults in intensive, psychoanalytically oriented, inpatient treatment. Convergent validity was assessed through correlations between the SCORS and Rorschach measures of mental representations, clinical assessments of interpersonal behavior, and a measure of defense mechanisms. Results of the convergent validity were mixed. Correlations between the SCORS and Rorschach measures of object relations were weak. Correlations between all four SCORS dimensions and two measures of interpersonal behavior as well as with defense mechanisms, however, were statistically significant. The clinical utility of the SCORS was also supported by significant changes in the SCORS scores over 15 months of intensive inpatient treatment. These findings indicate the utility of the SCORS to assess therapeutic change in severely disturbed, treatment-resistant young adults.