Being Close and Being Social: Peer Ratings of Distinct Aspects of Young Adult Social Competence

Abstract

The present study had three main objectives: (1) to develop and validate scales of young adult social competence in two domains, close relationships and social groups, using peer ratings of California Q-sort (Block, 1974; Kremen & Block, 2002) items; (2) to test the hypothesis that social competence is associated with young adult well-being and ego development; (3) to test the hypothesis that close relationship competence aligns more closely than social group competence with young adult functioning. Psychometric data on peer ratings of social competence are presented. For 133 young adults, peer ratings of social competence were correlated in expected directions with indices of functioning (e.g., self-worth, education, psychological distress, criminal behavior, and ego development). Associations were generally stronger for competence in close relationships than in social groups.

Notes

¹Other authors have identified the period between the ages of 18 and 25 as a distinct developmental period entitled emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000), arguing that given the experimental and evolving nature of identity during this period, young adulthood has not yet occurred. Still other authors refer to this period as early adulthood (e.g., Schulenberg et al., 2004).

*p < .05,

** p < .01

*** p < .001.

*p < .05,

** p < .01. Dependent correlation comparisons were used to calculate differences between the correlations of each relationship measure with peer-rated close relationship competence vs. social group competence.

*p < .05,

** p < .01.