A BRIEF METHOD FOR ASSESSING SOCIAL-DEVELOPMENT - STRUCTURE, RELIABILITY, STABILITY, AND DEVELOPMENTAL VALIDITY OF THE INTERPERSONAL COMPETENCE SCALE

The Interpersonal Competence Scale (ICS-T) is a set of brief rating sc ales for teachers and parents. It consists of 18 items that assess soc ial and behavioral characteristics of children and youths. The ICS-T y ields three primary factors: AGG (argues, trouble at school, fights), POP (popular with boys, popular with girls, lots of friends), and ACA (spelling, math). Subsidiary factors include AFF (smile, friendly), OL Y (appearance, sports, wins), and INT (shyness, sad, worry). The psych ometric properties of the scale (internal structure, reliability, long -term stability) are presented and evaluated over successive ages. The scale factors have been linked to contemporaneous observations of beh avior and social network membership. Developmental validity of the ICS -T includes the significant prediction of later school dropout and tee nage parenthood. The ICS-T scale is described, along with instructions for use and scoring.