Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study presents the findings of a systematic review of measures of social and emotional skills for children and young people. The growing attention to this area in recent years has resulted in the development of a large number of measures to aid in the assessment of children and young people. These measures vary on a number of variables relating to implementation characteristics and psychometric properties. The methodology of the review followed the general principles of systematic reviewing, such as systematic search of databases, the adoption of predetermined set of inclusion and exclusion criteria, and a multistage filtering process. The review process resulted in the retention of 12 measures, which are presented and discussed in relation to key issues in this area, including difficulties with the underlying theory and frameworks for social and emotional skills, inconsistent terminology, the scope and distinctiveness of available measures, and more practical issues such as the type of respondent, location, and purpose of measurement.

Keywords

social and emotional skills measurement children

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

*Bar-On

(1997). Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i): Technical manual. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.

Bar-On

Parker

(2008). Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version (EQ-i:YV): Technical manual. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.

Butler

R. J.

Gasson

S. L.

(2005). Self-esteem/self-concept scales for children and adolescents: A review. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 10, 190-201.

*Carlo

Haussman

Christiansen

Randall

B. A.

(2003). Sociocognitive and behavioural correlates of a measure of pro-social tendencies for adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 23, 107-134.

Denham

S. A.

(2005a). Assessing social-emotional development in children from a longitudinal perspective for the National Children’s Study: Social-emotional compendium of measures. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.

Denham

S. A.

(2005b). Assessing social-emotional development in children from a longitudinal perspective for the National Children’s Study. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.

Denham

S. A.

Wyatt

T. M.

Bassett

H. H.

Echeverria

Knox

S. S.

(2009). Assessing social-emotional development in children from a longitudinal perspective. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 63(Suppl.), 37-52.

Department for Children, Schools and Families. (2007a). Secondary Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) programme: Guidance. Nottingham, England: Author.

Department for Children, Schools and Families. (2007b). The children’s plan: Building brighter futures. Nottingham, England: Author.

10.

Gannon

Ranzijn

(2005). Does emotional intelligence predict unique variance in life satisfaction beyond IQ and personality? Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1353-1364.

11.

Fundacion Marcelino Botin. (2008). Social and emotional education: An international analysis. Santander, Spain: Author.

12.

Goleman

(1995). Emotional intelligence. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

13.

*Gresham

D. C.

Elliott

S. N.

(1990). Social skills rating system: Manual. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.

14.

Hannes

Claes

& The Belgian Campbell Group. (2007). Learn to read and write systematic reviews: The Belgian Campbell Group. Research on Social Work Practice, 17, 748-753.

15.

Harlen

Crick

R. D.

(2004). Opportunities and challenges of using systematic reviews of research for evidence based policy in education. Evaluation & Research in Education, 18, 54-71.

16.

*Hightower

A. D.

Cowen

E. L.

Spinell

A. P.

Lotyczewski

B. S.

(1987). The Child Rating Scale: The development of a socio-emotional self-rating scale for elementary school children. School Psychology Review, 16, 239-255.

17.

Humphrey

Curran

Morris

Farrell

Woods

(2007). Emotional intelligence and education: A critical review. Educational Psychology, 27, 235-254.

18.

Humphrey

Kalambouka

Bolton

Lendrum

Wigelsworth

Lennie

Farrell

(2008). Primary social and emotional aspects of learning: evaluation of small group work (Research Report RR064). Nottingham, England: DCSF Publications.

19.

Humphrey

Kalambouka

Lendrum

Wigelsworth

Samad

Farrelly

Croudace

(2009). A systematic review of social and emotional skills measures for children and young people (DCSF Research Report 2008/056B). Nottingham, England: DCSF Publications.

20.

*Izard

C. E.

Dougherty

B. M.

Bloxom

B. M.

Kotsch

W. E.

(1974). The Differential Emotion Scale: A method of measuring the subjective experience of discrete emotions. Unpublished manuscript, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.

21.

*LaFreniere

P. J.

Dumas

J. E.

(1996). Social competence and behavior evaluation in children ages 3 to 6 years: The short form (SCBE-30). Psychological Assessment, 8, 369-377.

22.

*Matson

J. L.

Rotatori

A. F.

Helsel

W. J.

(1983). Development of a rating scale to measure social skills in children: The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY). Behavior Research and Therapy, 21, 335-340.

23.

Matthews

Roberts

R. D.

Zeidner

(2004). Seven myths about emotional intelligence. Psychological Inquiry, 15, 179-196.

24.

Matthews

Zeidner

Roberts

R. D.

(2004). Emotional intelligence: Science and myth. Cambridge: MIT Press.

25.

*Merrell

K. W.

(1996). Social-emotional assessment in early childhood: The Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales. Journal of Early Intervention, 20, 132-145.

26.

*Michelson

Wood

(1982). Development and psychometric properties of the Children’s Assertive Behavior Scale. Journal of Behavioral Assessment, 4, 3-13.

27.

Nind

(2006). Conducting systematic review in education: A reflexive narrative. London Review of Education, 4, 183-195.

28.

*Nowicki

Jr. Duke

M. P.

(1989). A measure of nonverbal social processing ability in children between the ages of 6 and 10. Paper presented as part of a symposium at the American Psychological Society, Alexandria, VA.

29.

Payton

J. W.

Wardlaw

D. M.

Graczyk

P. A.

Bloodworth

M. R.

Tompsett

C. J.

Weissberg

R. P.

(2000). Social and emotional learning: A framework for promoting mental health and reducing risk behaviours in children and youth. Journal of School Health, 70, 179-185.

30.

Petrides

K. V.

Furnham

(2001). Trait emotional intelligence: Psychometric investigation with reference to established trait taxonomies. European Journal of Personality, 15, 425-448.

31.

Petrides

K. V.

Sangareau

Furnham

Frederickson

(2006). Trait emotional intelligence and children’s peer relations at school. Social Development, 15, 537-547.

32.

Rose-Krasnor

(1997). The nature of social competence: A theoretical review. Social Development, 6, 111-135.

33.

Salovey

Mayer

J. D.

(1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9, 185-211.

34.

Schulte

M. J.

Ree

M. J.

Carretta

T. R.

(2004). Emotional intelligence: Not much more than g and personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1059-1068.

35.

*Schultz

Izard

C. E.

Bear

G. A.

(2004). Children’s emotion processing: Relations to emotionality and aggression. Development & Psychopathology, 16, 371-387.

36.

*Shields

Cicchetti

(1997). Emotion regulation among school-age children: The development and validation of a new criterion Q-sort scale. Developmental Psychology, 33, 906-916.

37.

Stewart-Brown

Edmunds

(2003). Assessing social and emotional competence in primary-school and early years settings (DfES EOR/SBU/2002/042). Nottingham, England: DfES Publications.

38.

Terwee

C. B.

Bot

S. D.

de Boer

M. R.

van der Windt

D. A.

Knol

D. L.

Dekker

. . . de Vet

H. C.

(2007). Quality criteria were proposed for measurement properties of health status questionnaires. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 60, 34-42.

39.

Torgerson

C. J.

(2006). Publication bias: The Achilles’ heel of systematic reviews? British Journal of Educational Studies, 54, 89-102.

40.

Van Horn

Atkins-Burnett

Karlin

Snyder

(2007). Parent ratings of children’s social skills: Longitudinal psychometric analysis of the social skills rating system. School Psychology Quarterly, 22, 142-199.

41.

Van Rooy

D. L.

Viswesvaran

Pluta

(2005). An evaluation of construct validity: What is this thing called emotional intelligence? Human Performance, 18, 445-462.

42.

Weare

Gray

(2003).What works in developing children’s emotional and social competence and well-being? (RR456). Nottingham, England: DfES Publications.

43.

Wigelsworth

Humphrey

Kalambouka

Lendrum

(2010). A review of key issues in the measurement of children’s social and emotional skills. Educational Psychology in Practice, 26, 173-186.

44.

Wilhelm

(2005). Measures of emotional intelligence: Practice and standards. In Schulze

Roberts

R. D.

(Eds.), Emotional intelligence: An international handbook (pp. 131-154). Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe & Huber.

45.

Wolpert

Aitken

Syrad

Munroe

Saddington

Trustam

. . . Croudace

(2009). Review and recommendations for national policy for England for the use of mental health outcome measures with children and young people (DCSF Research Report 2008/56). Nottingham, England: DCSF Publications.

46.

Zeidner

Roberts

R. D.

Matthews

(2002). Can emotional intelligence be schooled? A critical review. Educational Psychologist, 37, 215-231.

Measures of Social and Emotional Skills for Children and Young People

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References