Social-Behavioral Assessment of At-Risk Early Adolescent Students: Psychometric Characteristics and Validity of a Parent Report Form of the School Social Behavior Scales

Abstract

The purposes of this investigation were to examine the validity of the Home and Community Social Behavior Scales (HCSBS) for differentiating at-risk and non-at-risk stu dents in grades 6 through 9 and to evaluate psychometric characteristics of this instru ment. Parent ratings of social competence and antisocial behavior on the HCSBS for a group of 160 students who were part of an at-risk pre vention project were compared with those of 107 typical non-at-risk students. These students were all in grades 6 through 9, and the groups were relatively similar in terms of demographic characteristics. The at-risk group was rated as having significantly lower social competence and significantly higher rates of antisocial behavior than the non-at-risk group (p < .0001). Power analyses indicated that these group differences ranged from approximately 1½ to 1 3/4 standard deviations. Item level HCSBS scores were also shown to correctly clas sify the students into their respective groups with a great deal of accuracy (92.37% overall). Internal consistency coefficients of the two HCSBS scales were uniformly high (in the mid .90 range). These results provide new and use ful evidence regarding the significant social behavior problems exhibited by at-risk stu dents, as well as preliminary evidence of the validity and usefulness of the HCSBS. Implications for further research and psychoe ducational assessment practice are discussed.