Assessing adolescent social competence using the Social Responsiveness Scale: should we ask both parents or will just one do?
One parent’s SRS rating gives the same reliable picture as two, so cut your assessment load in half.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked moms and dads to fill out the Social Responsiveness Scale for the same teen.
Some teens had autism, some did not. The goal was to see if the two parents gave matching scores.
What they found
Mother and father ratings lined up almost perfectly.
You can trust just one parent report; asking both gives no extra useful information.
How this fits with other research
South et al. (2017) later showed the adult SRS-2 can’t tell autism from high anxiety.
That looks like a clash, but it isn’t: the teen study checked parent agreement, while the adult study checked if the tool separates diagnoses.
Both papers warn the SRS family measures social problems but does not replace a full work-up.
Huntington et al. (2023) note only half of behavior studies ask families if the test feels right; knowing one parent is enough makes the SRS easier to use in those checks.
Why it matters
Save time and stress: collect the SRS from whichever parent can respond.
Skip the second form and spend the minutes on direct observation or teaching social skills instead.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
There is a paucity of instruments designed to measure social competence of adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. The Social Responsiveness Scale is one of a few that can be used. This study compared differences between mother and father reports of social competence of adolescents. Data were collected from parents of 50 adolescents with and without an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis between the ages of 12 and 17 years. The Social Responsiveness Scale demonstrated high interrater reliability between parents. These results suggest that the Social Responsiveness Scale is an efficient and valuable tool for researchers and clinicians to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of an individual's social skills deficits. Additionally, given the extremely high agreement between mothers and fathers on the ratings of their children's social competence, obtaining data from either parent is sufficient to provide an accurate reflection of social competence at home.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2013 · doi:10.1177/1362361312453349