CONVERGENT VALIDITY OF THE BASC AND SSRS - IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL SKILLS ASSESSMENT

The present study examined the psychometric relationship between two n ew rating scales, the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC; R eynolds & Kamphaus, 1992) and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; G resham & Elliott, 1990), for a sample (N=53) of minority kindergarten children using both parent and teacher ratings. The similarities and d ifferences between these instruments were investigated through correla tional and content analyses. In general, the results provide prelimina ry convergent validity evidence for the BASC and SSRS. In regard to th e Social Skills subscale of the BASC, convergent validity evidence was demonstrated for the parent form of this instrument, but not the teac her form, when the SSRS Social Skills scale was used as the criterion. In addition, the correlations between the various scales of the BASC and SSRS were in the expected direction. That is, the correlation betw een the BASC Adaptive Skills Composite and the SSRS Social Skills scal e was moderate in the teacher group (r=.44) and high in the parent gro up (r=.54). Similarly, correlations between the BASC Hyperactivity, Ag gression, and Externalizing scales and the SSRS Problem Behaviors scal e ranged from .50 to .60 and .50 to .56 in the teacher and parent grou ps, respectively. Implications regarding the practical utility of the BASC and SSRS for assessing social skills functioning, in particular, were presented.