title: Validation of a role-play measure of children's social skills.
abstract: A videotape-administered role-play test of children's social skills was developed and its psychometric properties tested. Performance criteria for the test were derived from popular children's ratings of the effectiveness of different role-play responses. The test was administered to 157 fourth- and fifth-grade boys and girls who had been classified as popular, average, neglected, or rejected, on the basis of sociometric testing. The test evidenced good interrater, test-retest, and internal consistency reliabilities. Children's role-play performance correlated significantly with teacher ratings of social competence and with peer-liking ratings. Neglected children performed more poorly on the role-play test than popular children. When differences in intelligence among social status groups were statistically controlled, social status groups did not differ on the role-play test. Results of the discriminant analyses support the conclusion that teacher ratings are better than role-play tests for identifying rejected children, whereas role-play tests and measures of intelligence appear more accurate than teacher ratings for identifying neglected children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843-4225.
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boodoo
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alcala
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Maggio
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Villapando
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D011577:Psychodrama; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012381:Role Playing; D012928:Social Desirability; D012934:Social Isolation