Assessing social competencies in children and adolescents: Development and first validation of a questionnaire

The present study reports the development of a questionnaire of social competencies in children and adolescents (self-report) allowing for the multidimensionality of social competencies. The questionnaire was validated by means of teacher's report on social competencies and classmates' reports on social status as well as other personality traits, social desirability, and cognitive skills. A total of 684 students aged between 12 and 17 participated in the study. A cross-validation of factor structures resulted in six scales of social competencies with good to satisfactory reliability coefficients: Social orientation, social initiative, self-control, emotion regulation, perception of others, and self-consciousness. Self-reported social competencies correlated with teacher's report on social competencies as well as classmates' reports on social status. The different scales of social competencies also correlated with theoretically related constructs (extraversion, shyness, social engagement, and aggressive behavior) while distinguishing from cognitive skills. Social orientation and self-control were prone to social desirability.