RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF INTERACTION RATING SCALE AS AN INDEX OF SOCIAL COMPETENCE

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) for assessing a child's social competence. We examined the internal consistency of IRS and criterion-related validity of IRS and NCAST Parent-Child Interaction Program Teaching Scale (NCATS). Methods The samples of this study ware 211 dyads of children and their caregivers who participated in the Japan Science and Technology Agency project. To evaluate the criterion-related validity of IRS, an image of the setting of the child-caregiver interaction was coded by both IRS and NCATS. The correlation between each subscale of IRS and the demographic information was calculated using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Considering the internal consistency of IRS, Cronbach's alpha was used. Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the criterion-related validity between the subscales of IRS and NCATS. Results Cronbach's alpha of IRS was 0.91, and in the domains of the child and caregiver, Cronbach's alpha values were 0.88 and 0.85, respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient between IRS total score and NCATS total score was 0.89, the child's total score was 0.70, and the caregiver's total score was 0.98 (p<0.001). Discussion The high internal consistency of IRS and significant correlations of results of IRS with those of NCATS confirmed the reliability and criterion-related validity of IRS.