The alliance of adaptive behavior and social competence: an examination of relationship between the scales of Independent Behavior and the Social Skills Rating System.

This study examined the relationship between ratings of adaptive behavior and social competence in a population of 208 students in kindergarten through third grade with a variety of disabilities using the Scales of Independent Behavior (SIB; Bruininks, Woodcock, Weatherman, & Hill, 1984) and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990). Moderate yet statistically significant relationships between the SIB adaptive behavior scores and the SSRS social competence scores were found, with strongest correlations occurring between the SSRS and the Social and Communication subscale (r = .51) and Work Skills subscale (r = .60) on the SIB. Weak to near zero correlations were found between the SIB adaptive behavior scores and SSRS Problem Behaviors scores. This investigation provides new evidence for the concurrent criterion-related validity of both the SIB and the SSRS.