title: Testing the Short and Screener versions of the Social Adjustment Scale-Self-report (SAS-SR).
abstract: The 54-item Social Adjustment Scale-Self-report (SAS-SR) is a measure of social functioning used in research studies and clinical practice. Two shortened versions were recently developed: the 24-item SAS-SR: Short and the 14-item SAS-SR: Screener. We briefly describe the development of the shortened scales and then assess their reliability and validity in comparison to the full SAS-SR in new analyses from two separate samples of convenience from a family study and from a primary care clinic. Compared to the full SAS-SR, the shortened scales performed well, exhibiting high correlations with full SAS-SR scores (r values between 0.81 and 0.95); significant correlations with health-related quality of life as measured by the Short Form 36 Health Survey; the ability to distinguish subjects with major depression versus other psychiatric disorders versus no mental disorders; and sensitivity to change in clinical status as measured longitudinally with the Symptom Checklist-90 and Global Assessment Scale. The SAS-SR: Short and SAS-SR: Screener retained the areas assessed by the full SAS-SR with fewer items in each area, and appear to be promising replacements for the full scale when a shorter administration time is desired and detailed information on performance in different areas is not required. Further work is needed to test the validity of the shortened measures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Marc J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gameroff
authors.forename: Priya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wickramaratne
authors.forename: Myrna M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Weissman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019540:Area Under Curve; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D012917:Social Adjustment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult