The development of a new measure of social-emotional functioning for young adolescents

Abstract

Social and emotional impairments are frequently reported following acquired brain injury, including an inability to adopt another's perspective, empathize, and display guilt, and inappropriate social conduct. Case studies suggest that these problems are particularly apparent when the injury is sustained in childhood, with deficits increasing with age and persisting throughout adulthood. In addition to these deficits, individuals may have limited insight into their cognitive or social-emotional deficits, which in turn may also affect social functioning and have implications for the success of rehabilitation. Despite the frequency of these problems, there is a dearth of suitable measures for detecting them in children or adolescents. The purpose of the current study was to develop one such measure from a measure initially intended for adults. Normative data were collected from 109 typically-developing 11- to 14-year-olds and their parent/guardian on the Social-Emotional Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C). Factor and reliability analyses were conducted and the subscales were then explored in association with key demographic information. Social-emotional development showed a fluctuating course across early adolescence, alongside some gender differences. This measure, with its normative data, will be of value to neuropsychologists wishing to explore such functioning in their clinical practice.