Measuring social skills: cultural adaptation and validation of SSI-Del Prette

Abstract

Purpose: Identifying and assessing social skills has been a powerful way of linking human behaviour and human interaction with their consequences at significant developmental levels. There are some data connecting social skills with interpersonal violence but not yet with elder abuse. The reason might be the scarcity of quick and easy-to-apply measures of social skills. This study aims to adapt and validate the Social Skills Inventory (Del Prette and Del Prette, 2001) to the Portuguese population. Methodology: We conducted two studies. In study 1, we gathered the psychometric characteristics of the SSI-Del-Prette through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In study 2, we correlated the new measure with measures of depression and empathy to test for divergent and concurrent validity. Findings: The obtained version of the SSI-Del-Prette showed a good model fit and internal consistency. This measure presented six factors: Conversation and social confidence, Easiness of self-exposure, Self-expression of positive affect, Coping assertively with risk, Defending interests, and opinions, Giving and receiving praise. The indicators of convergent and divergent validity supported the integrity of the measure. Originality/value: This paper provides an adaptation of a measure of six social skills expanded to the older adult population. Research limitations/implications: The adaptation of this measure of social skills opens new possibilities for studying these skills.