The Paediatric Evaluation of Emotions, Relationships, and Socialisation Questionnaire (PEERS-Q): development and validation of a parent-report questionnaire of social skills for children

ABSTRACT Background To assess social skills, professionals require a tool that is grounded in science, age-appropriate and sensitive to deviations from normal expectations. The Paediatric Evaluation of Emotions, Relationships and Socialisation Questionnaire (PEERS-Q) was developed to address this gap. This study aimed to detail the psychometric properties of PEERS-Q. Method 571 parents of children aged 5-15 years completed questionnaires about their child’s social competence (PEERS-Q, Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)). Children completed a measure of estimated IQ. Confirmatory factor analysis explored reliability and validity of PEERS-Q. Age- and sex-adjusted T-scores were derived and relationships between these and validation instruments were explored. Results Six subscales were derived; Relationships, Participation, Social Rules, Social Communication, Social Cognition and Behaviour. PEERS-Q has good to very good internal consistency (α = 0.89, subscales 0.78-0.95); good convergent validity with the SSIS and the SDQ (r = 0.76, subscales 0.47 to 0.59), and good discriminant validity using Matrix Reasoning (r = – 0.11, subscales – 0.08 to – 0.11). Conclusions PEERS-Q is a useful tool for measuring domains of social competence in children/adolescents. PEERS-Q may improve a clinician’s ability to identify a young person’s social difficulties and hence guide intervention. Further research in clinical populations is required to determine these benefits. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: (1) There is currently a lack of robust and developmentally appropriate social skills assessment tools for children and adolescents. (2) Exisiting measures either fail to assess the complexity of social function, or are included as smaller sub-scales of broader outcome measures. (3) Without valid and reliable measures that target the specific subdomains of social skills, interventions cannot be targeted to specific social skills strengths and weaknesses. What this topic adds: (1) The PEERS-Q is a new tool for measuring social skills in children, grounded in developmental neuroscience. (2) PEERS-Q is a valid and reliable measure. (3) PEERS-Q may improve a clinician’s ability to identify a young person’s social difficulties and tailor the type of intervention required.