Psychological Assessment by the American Psychological Association. Inc.

1996. Vol. 8. No. 4. 369-377 1040-3590/96/53.00

Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation in Children

Ages 3 to 6 Years: The Short Form (SCBE-30)

Peter J. LaFreniere Jean E. Dumas

University of Maine Purdue University

The factor structure and scale characteristics of the shortened version of the Social Competence and
Behavior Evaluation Scale (SCBE; P. J. LaFreniere & J. E. Dumas, 1995) are presented fur a Quebec
sample and 3 U.S. samples, as well as age and gender differences in the prevalence of emotional and
behavioral problems and social competence throughout the preschool years. Principal-components
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analyses identified 3 factors in all 4 samples: social competence (SC): anger-aggression ( A A ) ; and
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anxiety-withdrawal (AW). Each 10-itcm scale was shown to have high interrater and test-rctest
reliability, internal consistency, and temporal stability over a 6-month period. Across all samples,
boys were rated substantially higher on AA and lower on SC scales than girls, though no trends
toward a sex difference in AW were evident. A stepwise progression in SC with increasing age was
apparent in all samples. AA and AW behaviors showed a decline in the U.S., but not in the Quebec
sample.

The Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale
(SCBE, formerly the Preschool Socio-ArTective Profile) is an 80-
item Likert rating scale developed to assess patterns of social
competence, emotion regulation and expression, and adjust-
ment difficulties in children ages 30 to 78 months (LaFreniere,
Dumas, Capuano, & Dubeau, 1992). The questionnaire, typi-
cally completed by preschool teachers, is composed of eight
scales balanced for positive (competence) and negative
(emotional or behavioral problems) items, covering an exten-
sive array of behaviors commonly seen within a preschool set-
ting. As many emotional and behavioral problems in early-
childhood are rarely directly observed by psychiatrists, psychol-
ogists, or other mental health professionals, it is important to
obtain reliable and valid information from people who do ob-
serve young children under conditions in which such problems
typically occur. Once standardized, this information can pro-
vide an important complement to other sources of infor-
mation concerning the quality of the child's adaptation in other
settings.
The SCBE has been widely used over the past 8 years in re-
search, educational, and clinical settings in the United States,
Canada, and Europe. Researchers have used the SCBE (a) as a
screening instrument to select samples of high-risk children;
(b) in longitudinal research to study the development of social
competence: (c) in intervention studies as an outcome measure
to assess treatment effects; and ( d ) in experimental research ad-
dressing various issues in social and emotional development.
For a recent summary of this work, see LaFreniere and Dumas
(1995). In addition to research, educators and clinicians have
used the SCBE to assess the degree and specific features of be-
havioral and emotional problems in children in public and
private day care and preschool centers, including Head Start
programs.
Because the SCBE is now being used for multiple purposes
by diverse groups of professionals, we believe that a shortened
version of the instrument that retains as many characteristics
of the original as possible is desirable, because it would enable
researchers and educators to function more efficiently given the
time constraints and other demands they face daily. The short
form of the SCBE is intended to preserve several important
characteristics of the original while reducing the overall length
of the instrument from 80 to 30 items. These characteristics
include the three-factor structure; the high reliability, internal
consistency, and temporal stability of the scales; and the relative
orthogonality of the two factors representing internalizing and
externalizing behavior profiles.

Peter J. LaFreniere. Department of Psychology, University of Maine;
Jean E. Dumas, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue
University.
The development of this short form of the Social Competence and
Behavior Evaluation involved many people over the past 6 years. We
would like to thank especially our research assistants at the University
of MontrealFrance Capuano and Diane Dubeauwho were essential
in recruiting a large sample for the initial normalization and validation.
Finally, we express our gratitude to several hundred preschool teachers,
without whom this work would have been impossible.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Peter
LaFreniere, Department of Psychology, University of Maine. 5742 Clar-
ence Cook Little Hall. Orono. Maine 04469-5742.
We approached the task of constructing the original SCBE
from a developmental-adaptational perspective, emphasizing
the functional significance of affect in regulating social ex-
change (Bowlby, 1980; Ekman, 1984; Izard, 1977, 1991; Plut-
chik, 1980, 1991; Sroufe, 1996). From this perspective emo-
tions signal needs, attitudes, anticipations, and impulses toward
action. Discrclc, primary emotions such as joy, love, anger, fear,
and sadness are evident in infancy and generally shared across
cultures. They are widely recognized, not just as common ver-
bal labels for emotional experience but as core species-specific
motivational systems that shape or organize both behavior and
development across the life span (Fischer, Shaver, & Carnochan,

369
 370 LAI KTNIERE AND DUMAS
1990; Sroufe, 1996; Sroufe, Schork, Motti, Lawroski. & La-
Frcnierc, 1984).
Il is apparent from observational research in children's pre-
school groups that affective expression and emotion regulation
serve important relationship functions. Characteristic patterns
of emotion provide an important cue for observers interested in
the ongoing adjustment of the child to the milieu. For example,
in a recent study considerable differences were found in pre-
schoolers' ability to modulate negative affect arising from frus-
tration at losing a competitive encounter with a peer
(LaFrenicre, 1996). Although many of these children were able
to maintain a positive interaction with their partner, two dis-
tinct patterns of maladaptive behavior were identified. Children
who were rated by teachers as angry-aggressive expressed more
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negative affect after having lost a competition and were less able
to share a limited resource with the same peer in a subsequent
encounter. It appeared that these children were unable to regu-
late a moderate level of negative affect. Their concern with the
results of the competition led to more conflicts of interest, in-
creased competitiveness, and interpersonal conflicts with their
partner. In contrast, children rated as anxious-withdrawn
seemed to disconnect from their partner following the competi-
tion. Their affective expression, although not more negative,
was not contingent on their partner's behavior or affect. Re-
search on the developmental processes underlying emotional
competence is just beginning to gather momentum; its ultimate
success will depend on how successfully researchers meet the
methodological challenges that have long hindered progress in
this area. The development of the SCBE-30 is one attempt to
meet this challenge.
Like its predecessor, the SCBE-30 is designed to capture this
affective quality of the child's relationships with teachers and
peers. Specifically, we aim to provide ( a ) a standardized descrip-
tion of affect and behavior in context that is reliable, valid, and
useful for preschool teachers; (b) an efficient screening instru-
ment that differentiates specific types of behavioral-emotional
problems; (c) a developmentally appropriate assessment of
children's positive social adaptation or competence; ( d ) mea-
sures of high and approximately equivalent internal consis-
tency, reliability, and stability; and (e) measures sensitive to be-
havioral change over time for the purpose of program evalua-
tion or prospective-longitudinal research.
A major impetus for our research program is to develop an
instrument capable of addressing an important issue in pro-
spective longitudinal research of children at risk for later disor-
ders. As research goals become more precise and investigators
seek to understand both differential etiologies and sequelae of
developmental disorders, greater discriminant validity is being
demanded of measures used to evaluate various problem be-
haviors across various ages. Scales produced through tradi-
tional factor analytic techniques inevitably yield variables com-
posed of unequal numbers of items, and consequently, quite
different psychometric characteristics. Typically, a large first
factor representing conduct disorder is found to be more in-
ternally consistent, reliable, and stable than a much smaller fac-
tor representing emotional disorder or anxiety (e.g., Behar.
1977; Behar & Stringfield, 1974; Hinshaw, Morrison, Carte, &
Cornsweet, 1987; Hogan, Quay, Vaughn, & Shapiro. 1989).
Subsequent comparisons demonstrating differences between
scales in terms of etiology, temporal stability, or external corre-
lates may be attributed to the initial differences in the psycho-
metric characteristics of the scales rather than to substantive
differences in the phenomenon under investigation. In contrast,
the SCBE-30 is designed to produce a measure of internalizing
behavior that is as robusl psychometrically as its externalizing
counterpart, and relatively orthogonal to it.
Our clinical objective is to provide an instrument capable of
describing behavioral tendencies for the purpose of socializa-
tion and education. One consequence of this orientation is our
emphasis on assessing the quality of the child's adaptation
rather than sampling only the child's problem behaviors. The
inclusion of a reliable, valid, and developmentally sensitive in-
dex of social competence allows teachers to orient classroom
intervention efforts toward the child's strengths as well as v u l -
nerabilities. Second, this emphasis allows for more refined de-
scription of developmental deviance by focusing on the pres-
ence or absence of positive behavior as well as problem behavior.
Finally, this focus may also enhance prediction of later disorder
because early investigators have reported better prediction from
indexes of competence and ego maturity rather than from the
absence of problems and symptoms (Kohlberg, I .aCrosse. &
Ricks, 1972).
In this study we report the factor structure and scale charac-
teristics of the shortened version of the SCBE as well as age and
gender differences in the prevalence of emotional and behav-
ioral problems and social competence throughout the preschool
years.
Method
Participants
The database consisted of four distinct samples: three recruited in
regions ol the United States representing the Midwest (Indiana). West
(Colorado), and Northeast (Maine), and the original French Canadian
sample from Montreal, Quebec, for a total of 2,646 participants. See
fable 1. The Quebec sample consisted o T 9 1 0 preschool children re-
cruited from 80 different preschool classrooms from the Montreal met-
ropolitan area. The Indiana sample consisted of 854 preschool children
recruited from 50 different preschool classrooms from the Indianapolis
and Lafayette areas; the Colorado sample of 439 preschool children was
drawn from 30 classrooms from the Boulder and Denver areas: and the
Maine sample of 443 preschool children was recruited from 20 class-
rooms from the Bangor and Orono areas. For analytical purposes, age
was treated as a categorical variable by classifying participants into four
groups:.? year olds ( 30 to 42 months): 4 year olds (43 to 54 months): 5
war olds ( 55 1066 months); and 6 icw<Vt/v(6~to 78 months). A child
was thus designated, for example, a 3 year old if he or she was w i t h i n 6
Table 1
Gender and Ages oj Participants in Four Samples
Gender Age (years)
Sample Girls Boys 6
Quebec 415 495 910 251 350
Indiana 440 414 854 44 160 404 246
Colorado 210 229 439 46 155 172 66
Maine 213 230 443 88 190 126 39
 SCBE-30
months of exactly 3 years of age at the time of the assessment. In the
American sample, the four most populous ethnic groups in the United
StatesWhite (72%), Black ( 1 8 % ) , Hispanic ( 7 % ) , and Asian Ameri-
can (3%)are well represented, with minority groups approximately
equal to the 1993 national norms provided in the Statistical Abstract of
the United States(U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1991).
Teacher Evaluations
All children were evaluated by one or two classroom teachers at the
end of the fall session or during the spring session using the SCBE, which
has a Likert-type 6-point response format: never, rarely, sometimes, of-
ten, frequently, and always. All children were evaluated whose parents
consented to their participation (approximately 70-80% across all
samples) and who had been enrolled in the day care or preschool for at
least 2 months.
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Construction of the SCBE-30
As described in the original validation study 01 the SCBE-80
(formerly PSP; LaFreniere et al., 1992), a principal-components anal-
ysis using varimax rotation was performed on 16 item clusters. The
original 80 items were conceptually organized into bipolar item clusters
to assess patterns of emotion regulation (joyful-depressive, secure-anx-
ious, and tolerant-angry); peer relations (integrated-isolated. calm-
aggressive, prosocial-egotistical): and teacher-child relations (co-
operative-oppositional, autonomous-dependent). This analysis yielded
three factors accounting for 67.1 % of the total variance. The first factor,
designated Social Competence, comprised the eight positive item clus-
ters (joyful, secure, tolerant, socially integrated, calm, prosocial, coop-
erative, autonomous); the second factor, labeled Externalizing Behav-
ior, comprised four negative item clusters (angry, aggressive, egotistical,
oppositional); and the third factor, Internalizing Behavior, comprised
the remaining four negative item clusters (depressed, anxious, isolated,
dependent) Subsequent analyses confirmed the presence of the same
three factors in all U.S. samples, accounting for 77.6% of the total vari-
ance in the Indiana sample. 76.2% in the Colorado sample, and 75.7%
in the Maine sample (LaFreniere & Dumas, 1995).
This robust three-factor solution provided the starting point for this
study. In the first step, three criteria were used to reduce these three
original factors from the 80-item instrument to three scales composed
of 15 items each; level of endorsement, interrater reliability, and in-
ternal consistency. In the second step, these 45 items were factor ana-
lyzed and reduced further by selecting the 10 items with the highest
factor loadings within each of the three factors. This new 30-itcm set
was then analyzed, using a principal-components analysis with varimax
rotation. Given the favorable participants-to-variables ratio (over 30:
1), we split the Quebec sample in half, using an odd-even procedure,
and conducted two additional factor analyses to verify the stability
of the factor structure. Subsequently, each of the three American sam-
ples were analyzed separately using the same principal-components
analysis.
In addition to examining the factor structure of the instrument, the
scales were examined for internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha,
interrater reliability, test-retest reliability, and temporal stability. Age
and gender differences were also examined using analysis of variance
(ANOVA). These analyses were performed for the four samples wher-
ever the data permitted. However, because of uneven cell sizes in the
individual American samples, the ANOVA was performed on a single
U.S. sample consisting of all three American samples combined.
Results
Factor Analyses
Split-half analyses for the Quebec sample revealed high sta-
bility across factor structures. Each analysis generated three
371
identical 10-item factors accounting for 52.9% and 49.8% of the
variance, respectively. Each factor was composed of conceptu-
ally homogenous items tapping affective characteristics (e.g.,
"irritable" "gets mad easily") and social behaviors involving
peers (e.g.. "bullies younger children") or adults (e.g., "defiant
when reprimanded"). The first factor to emerge in each was
labeled Anger-Aggression (AA), and it accounted for 29.2% and
26.7% of the variance, respectively; the second factor, Social
Competence (SC), accounted for an additional 16.9% and
15.2% of the variance, respectively; and the third factor, Anxi-
ety-Withdrawal (AW), explained an additional 6.8% and 7.9%
of the variance, respectively. Subsequent analyses confirmed the
presence of the same three factors in all U.S. samples, account-
ing for 54.0% of the total variance for the Indiana sample, 52.4%
in the Colorado sample, and 53.1 % in the Maine sample. (See
Table 2 for factor loadings for all four samples).
Reliability, Consistency, and Stability
Interrater reliability provides an assessment of the degree of
equivalence between different teachers' independent evalua-
tions of the same child at the same point in time. Agreement
was calculated for each of the three factor-scales (hereinafter
scales) using Spearman-Brown estimates based on correlations
averaged across the Quebec, Indiana, and Maine sites. Because
only one teacher had completed the SCBE in the Colorado sam-
ple, interrater agreement could not be estimated. As shown in
Table 3, the reliability estimates were uniformly high across
samples, ranging from .78 to .91. This is quite comparable to
the reliability estimates for the SCBE-80, which ranged from
.72 to .89 (LaFreniereetal., 1992).
Internal consistency is an assessment of the degree to which
the component items of a scale coalesce around a coherent and
stable central tendency. The most widely used index of internal
consistency is Cronbach's coefficient alpha, which represents
the average of all possible split-half reliabilities that can be per-
formed on a scale. Alpha statistics for all four samples are pre-
sented in Table 4. The results show that all three scales have a
high degree of internal consistency in each sample, with scores
ranging from .80 to .92. Again, this is quite comparable to
the alphas for the SCBE-80, which ranged from .79 to .91
(LaFreniere etal. : 1992).
Data on test-retest reliability and temporal stability are
based on subsamples of 29 French Canadian children (2
teachers), 409 Indiana children (16 teachers), and 45 Maine
children (2 teachers) selected at random and reevaluated by
their teachers 2 weeks (Quebec) or 6 months (Indiana, Maine)
after the initial evaluation. As shown in Table 5, Pearson corre-
lations across a 2-week interval were uniformly high (.78-.86)
and comparable to the 2-week reliability estimates for the
SCBE-80, which ranged from .74 to .87 (LaFreniere et al.,
1992). As would be expected, slightly lower correlations were
obtained when participants were reevaluated across a 6-month
interval (.75-.79 for in the Indiana sample during the same ac-
ademic year; .61-.69 in the Maine sample in different academic
years).
Intercorrelations among the scales demonstrated relative or-
thogonality between the AA and the AW scales in all four sam-
ples (r = .02. .16, .29, .02), whereas the SC scale was signifi-
 372 LAFRENIERE AND DUMAS

Table 2
Factor Loadings ofSCBE-30 Items for Four Samples

Original SCBE
SCBE-30 Quebec Indiana Colorado Maine
item no. Item no. Subscale (A'=910) (N = 8 5 4 ) (A'= 439) (A'=443)

Anger-Aggression

1 10 Angry .84 .80 .82 .85

2 7 Angry .78 .62 .63 .71
3 74 Oppositional .77 .79 .78 .81
4 44 Aggressive .76 .77 .76 .82
5 30 Angry .76 .71 .67 .80
6 8 Oppositional .71 .79 .75 .79
7 42 Aggressive .71 .74 .72 .73
8 62 Oppositional .66 .62 .63 .70
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9 32 Aggressive .65 ,77 .71 .72

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10 71 Oppositional .58 .72 .69 .67

Social Competence
1 35 Calm .73 .67 .53 .76
2 45 Prosocial .72 .70 .72 .76
3 39 Calm .69 .66 .74 .80
4 58 Integrated .68 .60 .66 .60
5 43 Prosocial .66 .6! .73 .64
6 17 Joyful .65 .45 .60 .49
7 66 Cooperative .65 .49 .60 .60
8 50 Calm .63 .55 .68 .59
9 60 Prosocial .58 .63 .58 .63
10 63 Cooperative .57 .53 .65 .60

A n x iety-With drawal
1 36 Isolated .70 .78 .70 .72
2 34 Isolated .69 .80 .60 .80
3 24 Depressive .67 .67 .67 .62
4 28 Anxious .66 .75 .69 .78
5 49 Isolated .64 .66 .51 .69
6 23 Anxious .62 .74 .75 .75
7 57 Isolated .54 .67 .57 .65
8 1| Anxious .50 .50 .57 .66
9 6 Depressive .49 .53 .35 .45
10 2 Depressive .49 .63 .45 .62

Hole. SCBE-30 - Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale: Short Form.

cantly and negatively correlated with both AA (r = -.37, -.57, Her. Given the uneven distribution of age groups in the three
-.58, -.54) and AW (r = -.38, -.42, -.43, -.30) in all four American samples (see Table 1), they were combined to form
samples. a single sample with more substantial cell sizes for the 3- and 6
year old groups. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the main effect
Age and Gender Effects for age for the SC scale was significant in both the French Cana-
dian, F( 2, 905) = 17.78, p < . 0 0 1 , and the combined American
To assess age and gender differences, 2 (Gender) x 4 (Age)
ANOVAs were conducted using the three scales described ear-

Table 4
Internal Consistency of SCBE-30 Scales for Four Samples
Table 3
Interrater Agreement of SCBE-30 Scales for Three Samples Cronbach's alpha

Scale Quebec Indiana Maine Scale Quebec Indiana Colorado Maine

Anger-Aggression .83 .91 .79 Anger- Aggression .92 .92 .92 .92
Social Competence .85 .83 .87 Social Competence .90 .86 .90 .88
Anxiety-Withdrawal .86 .78 .88 Anxiety- Withdrawal .85 77 .81 .84

Note. SCBE-30 - Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale: Note. SCBE-30 = Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale:
Short Form. Short Form.
 SCBE-30
Table 5
Test-Retesi Reliability and Temporal Stability
of SCBE-30 Scales
Temporal stability'
Scale (Quebec) Indiana Maine
Anger-Aggression .86 .79 .69
Social Competence .82 .78 .61
Anxiety- Withdrawal .78 .75 .63
Note. SCBE-30 = Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale:
Short Form.
" 2-week interval. b 6-month interval.
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samples, F(3, 1729) = 41.75, p < .001, with teachers reporting
greater social competence in older participants. One-way
ANOVAs, using Duncan's correction for multiple comparisons,
revealed a stepwise progression in social competence for age
groups for both sexes in both samples ( 3 < 4 < 5 < 6 ; p <
.05). Age effects in problem behaviors were evident in the U.S.
sample but not in the Quebec sample. A stepwise progression
in the decline of angry-aggressive behavior was found in the
U.S. sample for boys, whereas U.S. girls showed a decline in AA
behavior after age 4 (5, 6 < 3, 4; p < .05). In addition, an age
effect was significant in the U.S. sample for anxious-withdrawn
behavior, ^(3, 1729) = 13.16.p < .001. Duncan tests revealed
an overall decline in teacher reports of AW after age 4 (5, 6 < 3,
4; p < .05) for girls and a similar effect for boys, although no
difference was found between 4 and 5 year old boys). In con-
trast, no significant main effects for age were found in either A A
or AW in the Quebec sample.
There were main effects for gender for the SC F( 1, 905) =
51.07, p < .001 (Quebec); F(\, 1729) = 43.92, p < .001
(U.S.)and AA scalesF(\, 905) = 26.18, p < .001
(Quebec); F( I, 1729) = 53.01, p< .001 (U.S.)for both sam-
ples, with teachers assessing girls as more socially competent
and less aggressive than boys. In addition, there was a significant
Age X Gender interaction for the AA scale in the Quebec sam-
ple, F( 2, 905) = 3.24, p = .040, but not in the overall American
sample. French Canadian boys and girls were not initially
different at 3 years on that scale; however, older boys were rated
as significantly more aggressive than older girls. In contrast to
the foregoing pattern of results, there were no significant gender
differences in teacher evaluations on the AW scale in either sam-
ple. The means and standard deviations for both the United
States and Quebec samples are presented in Appendixes A and
B, respectively.
Construct Validity
Because of the extensive construct validation of the original
80-item SCBE (Dumas & LaFreniere, 1993; Dumas, LaFren-
iere, & Serketich, 1995; LaFreniere et al., 1992; LaFreniere &
Dumas, 1992), Pearson correlations were computed between
these latter three indexes and their corresponding 10-item scales
from the SCBE-30. As expected, these correlations were ex-
tremely high (.92- .97), reflecting the high degree of conceptual
unity retained in the short version. In addition, for a large pro-
373
portion of the Indiana sample ( n = 517), we were able to obtain
teacher ratings of conduct disorder and anxiety-withdrawal
measures derived from the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist
(RBPC; Hogan et al., 1989). The Pearson correlation was .67
for the two measures of anxiety-withdrawal and .87 for the re-
lation between anger-aggression (SCBE-30) and conduct dis-
order (RBPC). Each of these correlations parallels earlier anal-
yses (LaFreniere et al., 1992) between the SCBE-80 and the
Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL-Teacher Report Form;
Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1981) and confirms our expectation
of moderate associations, high enough to provide convergent
validity but also different enough to justify a new measure.
Discussion
Principal-components analyses clearly identified three fac-
tors in all four samples representing social competence, anger-
aggression, and anxiety-withdrawal, respectively. Each factor-
scale, composed of 10 items, was shown to have high interrater
and test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and temporal
stability over a 6-month period. It is noteworthy that each scale
was virtually synonymous with the corresponding scale from
the original SCBE, despite the significant reduction from 80 to
30 items. This finding permits confidence in applying the exten-
sive validation studies of the original (LaFreniere et al., 1992)
to the new, abbreviated version.
The Social Competence scale taps a broad range of behaviors
designed to assess the positive qualities of the child's adaptation
rather than specific behavioral competencies. Asa developmen-
tal construct, social competence refers to behaviors that indi-
cate a well-adjusted, flexible, emotionally mature, and generally
prosocial pattern of social adaptation. In previous validation
work with the SCBE-80 (LaFreniere et al., 1992), the socially
competent group received the most positive nominations and
the least negative nominations from peers, and it was highest in
sociometric status. Because of its qualitative dimension, socio-
metric status is one of the most robust correlates of teacher rat-
ings of social competence in preschoolers. Other research has
shown that socially competent preschoolers score high on as-
sessments of ego resiliency, express high levels of positive affect
and relatively low levels of negative affect, and are well liked and
appreciated by their teachers as well as by peers (LaFreniere &
Sroufe, 1985;Sroufeetal., 1984; Waters &Sroufe, 1983).
The second scale, Anger-Aggression, may be considered a
preschool equivalent of previous broadband syndromes labeled
variously as conduct disorder (Peterson, 1961; Quay, 1983) or
externalizing symptoms (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1981). The
items on this scale describe angry, aggressive, selfish, and oppo-
sitional behaviors. It is interesting that emotion regulation and
affective expression were shown to be as central as aggressive
behavior to this scale. Indeed, the item with the highest factor
loading in all four samples was "irritable, gets mad easily," and
poor frustration tolerance and defiance were among the other
high loadings. Children with extreme scores on this scale tend
to express their negative emotions in ways that hurt or at least
disturb others. They function poorly in social situations, where
they require almost constant supervision, often to protect oth-
ers from their outbursts. The angry-aggressive group "was pre-
viously shown to be the most interactive with peers but also the
 374 LAFRENIERE AND DUMAS

ANGER-AGGRESSION most rejectedresults that correspond precisely with theoreti-

26-| cal expectations because aggression is a well-known behavioral
correlate of peer rejection across a wide age span (Asher &
Dodge, 1986; Coie, Dodge, & Kupersmidt, 1990; LaFreniere &
24-
Sroufe, 1985).
The third scale, Anxiety-Withdrawal, is composed of items
22- describing anxious, depressed, isolated, and overly dependent
behavior. It is similar to previous broadband indexes labeled
| Girls
20- affective disorder or internalizing symptoms, although somatic
IRlil Boys complaints, eating and sleeping irregularities, and similar prob-
lems were not included in the item list because of the preschool
context of the evaluation. In previous validation research, the
anxious-withdrawn group was observed to be significantly less
interactive than all other groups, although not necessarily ne-
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glected or rejected by their peers. However, AW preschoolers did

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spend much of their time in activities on the periphery of group

3 years 4 years 5 years 6 years
life, such as onlooking and parallel play, and they were also
prone to be alone and unoccupied. In keeping with the pattern
SOCIAL COMPETENCE of affective and behavioral signs of maladjustment, children
44- with extreme scores on this scale are seen by their teachers as
sad, depressed, tired, and worried, as well as isolated. They show
little interest in the activities that their peers typically delight in.
These children tend to have poor self-concepts and show high
levels of immaturity, as they often seek adult attention in situa-
tions that do not require it and find it difficult to perform tasks
within their capabilities without regular assurance, giving up
I Girls
easily when others would persist.
OH Boys This basic division between these two broad types of disorder
has been extensively verified in early and middle childhood as
well as in adolescence (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1981; Behar &
Stringfield, 1974; Kohn & Rosman, 1972; Peterson, 1961;
Quay, 1983). However, unlike broadband assessments of exter-
nalizing and internalizing problems, the AA and AW scales of
the SCBE-30 are conceptually distinct, and each is defined in
32
terms of affective and behavioral cues. Empirically, we have
3 years 4 years 5 years 6 years
shown that these scales are much more orthogonal than the
broadband measures of internalizing and externalizing behav-
ANXIETY-WITHDRAWAL
ior typically used in developmental research. We view this as a
26-|
significant improvement because it affords the opportunity for
more effective longitudinal research regarding differential etio-
logies and sequelae of these developmental disorders.
24- Given the extensive samples of children evaluated in this
study, these data are particularly robust with respect to age and
22- gender differences. Across all samples, boys were shown to be
rated substantially higher on measures of anger-aggression and
I Girls lower on social competence than girls, although no sample
20-
010 Boys
showed even a trend toward a sex difference in anxiety-with-
drawal. Taken together, these results would appear to indicate
that boys are, on the whole, not as well adapted to the preschool
environment as girls, at least from the teacher's standpoint. It
should be noted that over 95% of the teachers, from the several
hundred programs that provided these data, were female, a pro-
portion that is representative of preschool programs in North
America. This introduces two potential sources of gender bias.
3 years 4 years 5 years 6 years
A female bias in the ratings of the children's behavior may be
Age present, and a bias may be expressed in the construction of an
Figure 1. Age and gender differences in SCBE-30 scales for the U.S. environment that is more suitable to preschool girls than pre-
sample. SCBE-30 = Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation school boys. It is possible that the preschool environment is less
Scale: Short Form appealing and more restrictive for a higher percentage of boys
 SCBE-30 375

ANGER-AGGRESSION than girls. It is also likely that a greater proportion of these chil-
dren respond to these conditions with externalizing behaviors.
26-| If both of these propositions were true, then we would expect
a much higher percentage of disruptive behavior problems in
24- boysa fact that is easily substantiated but rarely explained
(Dumas, 1994; Richman, Stevenson, & Graham, 1982; Rutter
& Garmezy, 1983). It may also be argued that boys are geneti-
22-
cally predisposed toward higher levels of aggressive or disruptive
Girls behavior; however, in our view of adaptation, the environment
20- must also be part of the equation.
Boys
Regarding age differences, developmental trends toward a
stepwise progression in social competence for boys and girls was
clearly evident in both samples, in line with theoretical expec-
tations. Similar to the validation criterion for IQ items, we view
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

a clear linear trend of increasing social competence with age as a

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

basic component of the validation process of this developmental

construct.
3 years 4 years 5 years It is unclear whether cultural or linguistic differences underly
differences between the U.S. and Quebec samples regarding age
trends in behavior problems. Angry-aggressive behaviors
showed a clear stepwise decline (especially in boys) for the com-
SOCIAL COMPETENCE bined U.S. sample but no main effect for age in the Quebec
sample. Similarly, the U.S. data reveal a less pronounced but
significant drop in anxious-withdrawn behavior among older
preschoolers, with no apparent age trend in the Quebec data.
No definitive interpretations of these differences in age trends
are possible at this point, especially because no differences were
predicted and the age range of the Quebec sample was narrower
Girls than that of the U.S. sample. Currently, large samples are being
tested with French and Spanish versions of the SCBE in Europe
ID Boys and North America, which will allow more definite conclusions
than any single 2-point comparison.
In conclusion, we have shown that reducing the SCBE-80
to an abbreviated 30-item instrument does not result in any
detectable loss in interrater agreement, test-retest reliability, in-
ternal consistency, or temporal stability. In addition, the SCBE-
32
30 retains the original three-factor structure. Because of the re-
3 years 4 years 5 years
search demands of economy, data reduction, and discriminant
validity, it will often be advantageous to use this new short form,
particularly when teachers are asked to assess moderate-to-large
ANXIETY-WITHDRAWAL numbers of children or are required to make multiple assess-
ments of different aspects of the same children. In clinical ap-
26 -i plication, the SCBE-30 would be ideal as part of a screening
assessment or outcome assessment, again when large samples
24- are used.
However, for most clinical purposes, we recommend the
SCBE-80, not only because of the more detailed description
22-
provided by the profile of the eight basic scales, but also because
Girls of the nationally standardized norms and case studies provided
20- in the manual (LaFreniere & Dumas, 1995). T scores and per-
Boys
centile scores provide the essential context for understanding a
target child's relative standing with respect to all children of the
same gender in the standardization sample. T scores are based

Figure 2. Age and gender differences in SCBE-30 scales for the Que-
5 years bec sample. SCBE-30 = Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation
Scale: Short Form.
 376 LAFRENIERE AND DUMAS
on (he cumulative probabilities in the raw score distribution
rather than directly on the mean and standard deviation of the
raw scores, transforming the original distribution to tit a nor-
mal curve, with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10.
From research findings (LaFreniere & Dumas, 1995) and clin-
ical experience, and in accord with many instruments of this
genre, we have found that the lowest 10% of the children seem
to set themselves apart from the rest of the children in signifi-
cant ways. Because a percentile rank of 10% corresponds to a /'
score of 37 (90% equals 63T), it is recommended that 37Tand
63T be used as the clinical cutting points in the process of form-
ing interpretative hypotheses. At no time should the SCBE be
used as the sole basis for any clinical decisions regarding inter-
vention with the child. Rather, interpretations based on the pro-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
file should be viewed as hypotheses that require further corrob-
oration from other data sources, as well as the exercise of sound
professional judgement. For more extensive information con-
cerning clinical applications, see LaFreniere and Dumas
(1995).
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 SCBE-30 377

Appendix A

Means and Standard Deviations of SCBE-30 Scales

for Age and Gender Groups: U.S. Sample

Girls Boys

Scale and age group SO SO

Social Competence
3 year olds 35.51 7.59 32.30 9.05
4 year olds 39.35 8.95 36.93 9.06
5 year olds 41.11 9.07 38.57 9.23
6 year olds 43.65 6.66 40.68 9.10
Anxiety-Withdrawal
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

3 year olds 23.26 7.88 24.10 6.72

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

4 year olds 22.89 7.86 22.52 7.50

5 year olds 20.95 7.44 21.59 8.10
6 year olds 20.06 7.07 20.48 7.67
Anger-Aggression
3 year olds 19.40 8.78 24.88 11.69
4 year olds 19.99 9.45 22.53 10.07
5 year olds 16.79 7.62 19.40 8.77
6 year olds 15.49 6.23 1 8.30 8.76

Note. SCBE-30 - Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale: Short Form.

Appendix B

Means and Standard Deviations of SCBE-30 Scales

for Age and Gender Groups: Quebec Sample

Girls Boys

Age group M SD M SD

Social Competence
3 year olds 37.27 7.46 35.58 8.06
4 year olds 40.76 7.19 36.48 8.11
5 year olds 42.51 6.92 38.06 7.05
Anxiety- Withdrawal
3 year olds 20.69 6.54 20.89 6.26
4 year olds 19.79 5.72 20.19 6.90
5 year olds 20.43 6.49 21.10 6.94
Anger- Aggression
3 year olds 22.73 7.38 23.43 8.32
4 year olds 21.11 7.21 24.89 9.23
5 year olds 21.69 8.18 25.33 8.95

Note. SCBE-30 = Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale: Short Form.

Received January 26, 1996

Revision received April 22, 1996
Accepted April 30, 1996