The Measurement of Social Skills in Depression

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Psychology - Clinic and Health Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, grade: A - (excellent), Indiana University (Psychology), course: Mood disorders, language: English, abstract: INTRODUCTION There has been a lot of research concerning the problem of social skill deficits in depression. Social skill deficits are assumed to be an important factor in contributing to the development as well as the maintenance of depression. Conceptually, authors deal with the construct 'social skill' quite differently. They use a wide range of self-report and observer-rating scales, assessing different traits and abilities, behavioral tendencies and self-perceptions. The purpose of this paper is to present a comparison of those different assessment strategies used by researchers and to critically discuss their effectiveness and applicability as well as their validity and limitations. First, a short overview is given on the concept of social skills in depression to provide a framework. I will then present and discuss different operationalizations of social skills and compare measurements and basic findings to present and suggest useful components for future investigations. I will hereby concentrate on self-report and observer-rating assessment techniques. Finally, a summary and conclusion is given.