Reliability and validity of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters.
MESSY remains a solid caregiver rating for child social skills, just treat preschool scores as tentative.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team checked if the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) still works. They gave the rating scale to parents and teachers of U.S. children. Then they ran numbers to see if the scores hang together and match other tests.
What they found
MESSY showed strong internal consistency and good convergent/divergent validity. In plain words, items within each subscale agree, and the totals line up with other social-skill measures. The numbers look cleaner for older kids than for preschoolers.
How this fits with other research
Matson et al. (2009) reviewed 48 child social-skill tools and warned that many lack solid psychometric legs. The new data answer that call by giving MESSY a fresh clean bill of health.
Meuret et al. (2001) stretched the MESSY family into new ground. They used the adult version (MESSIER) with clients who have profound ID and linked low positive scores to rumination. Together the studies show the whole MESSY line stays reliable across ages and ability levels.
Sun et al. (2010) and Busch et al. (2010) ran similar preschool checks on motor and classroom tools. All three papers agree: measures can be valid, but always check age-specific evidence before you trust the scores.
Why it matters
You can keep using MESSY to screen social-skill deficits in school-age kids without worry. For preschoolers, still use it, but double-check scores against direct observation. If you also serve adults with ID, know that the MESSIER version predicts rumination risk.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Social skills are an important part of development, and deficits in this area have long-term impacts on a child. As a result, clinicians should include a measure of social skills as part of a comprehensive assessment. There are a few well-researched measures of social skills that are currently used, including the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY). The MESSY has been translated and studied internationally in more than nine countries; however, updated norms for the United States have not been conducted since the inception of the measure. The purpose of this article is to examine the psychometric properties of the MESSY using an updated norm sample and age cohorts. Overall results indicated strong internal consistency and good to strong convergent and divergent validity. Psychometric properties for the older age cohorts were stronger and more consistent than those for the 2- to 5-year-olds. This reflects the variability of development and difficulty of assessing social skills at this young age.
Behavior modification, 2010 · doi:10.1177/0145445510384844