Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop the Social Behavior Sequencing Task (SBST) measuring social-cognitive ability of schizophrenics and examine its reliability and validity. The Social Behavior Sequencing Task was developed following the format of the Schema component sequencing task used by Corrigan, Wallas, & Green(1992). The final six items of the Social Behavior Sequencing Task were selected based on the results of the preliminary study in which 10 items were administered to 200 college students. To establish the reliability and validity, the Social Behavior Sequencing Task was then administered to 42 schizophrenics attending the community rehabilitation centers and 46 normal adults. Results demonstrated that the Cronbach alpha coefficient was .87 indicating high reliability. It was also shown that there was a significant difference between the schizophrenic group and the normal group on the mean of the SBST, t(86)=-3.40. p < .01. The results of the correlational analyses indicated that the score of the SBST was significantly correlated with the score of the picture arrangement subtest of KEDI-WISC, r=.47, p < .01 but not with the vocabulary subtest of K-WAIS, r=.14, ns. The SBST was also found to be significantly correlated with two measures of social skills(r=.44 & -.58), demonstrating high validity. Implications of the results were discussed along with its limitations.