Social Skills and Family Climate of Behaviorally Disordered Adolescents

Abstract

The social skills structure of behaviorally disordered adolescents was investigated in relation to their family climate and school competence and adjustment. The sample consisted of 109 male adolescents — 53 behaviorally disordered and 56 nondisabled students. The instruments were the Hebrew adaptations of the Social Skills Checklist, the Family Environment Scale, and the Classroom Behavior Inventory. The comparison between the factorial structure of the behaviorally disordered and the nondisabled responses show that the behaviorally disordered adolescents reported a global social skills concept, whereas their controls revealed a more differential concept. A significant difference was found between the two groups' perceptions of family climate: The behaviorally disordered adolescents viewed their families as more cohesive and organized, more emphasizing of the achievements and independence of the family members, and less enabling the expression of emotions. Teachers' perceptions of their behaviorally disordered students' social skills were also compared with the behaviorally disordered adolescents' self-reports, and significant differences were found. The teachers perceived a differential structure of skills, whereas the adolescents reported a global profile of higher functioning. Aspects of classroom behavior style and family climate were the best predictors of the social skills. Intervention planning should attend to the multivariate nature of social skills.