Vineland Social Maturity Scale

 Introduction 

Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS) was originally developed by E.A. Doll in 1940, and adapted to the Indian scenario by AJ Malin in 1965. EA Doll named it after the Vineland Training School for the Mentally Retarded, where he developed it. It is a semi-structured assessment based on an interview with the caregiver and evaluates the child’s social ability. The concept of VSMS was built on certain theories of social, and emotional Intelligence.

           It is a questionnaire method that measures adaptive functioning in the context of self-help skills, self-direction, socialization, and communication.

What it Measures?

1.            Communication: This domain assesses an individual's ability to communicate effectively through verbal and nonverbal means. It includes skills such as understanding and using language, expressing needs and wants, and social communication.

2.            Daily living skills: This domain assesses an individual's ability to perform self-help skills, such as eating, dressing, and hygiene, as well as domestic skills, such as cooking and cleaning.

3.            Socialization: This domain assesses an individual's ability to interact with others and engage in social activities. It includes skills such as making friends, initiating and maintaining conversations, and understanding social cues.

4.            Motor skills: This domain assesses an individual's ability to perform physical tasks, including gross and fine motor skills.

               The VSMS measures the differential social capacities of an individual. It provides an estimate of Social Age (SA) and Social Quotient (SQ) and shows a high correlation (0.80) with intelligence. It is designed to measure social maturation in eight social areas:

Ø  Self-help General (SHG),

Ø  Self-help Eating (SHE),

Ø  Self-help Dressing (SHD),

Ø  Self-direction (SD),

Ø  Occupation (OCC),

Ø  Communication (COM),

Ø  Locomotion (LOM), and

Ø  Socialization (SOC).

               The Indian adapted scale consists of 89 test items grouped into year levels. It was adapted to the Indian setting by A. J. Malin in 1965 and later by Bharat Raj in 1992.

1.          Self-help General (SHG) - This assesses whether a child can perform general activities on their own, like head holding, telling what time it is, etc.

2.          Self-help Eating (SHE) - Assess whether a child handles his/her eating pattern and takes care of their nutritional needs.

3.           Self-help Dressing (SHD) - Assess the child’s ability to dress or cleanse themselves.

4.          Self-direction (SD) - This includes how a child gradually breaks away from authority, followed by the assumption of responsibility and authority for others.

5.           Occupation (OCC) -  This includes playful activities during infancy, self-exploratory task, etc.

6.        Communication (COM) - Assess the social usage of language, literacy, and other means of communication.

7.            Locomotion (LOM) -  Involves social movements associated with social responsibilities.

8.            Socialization (SOC) – This includes a child’s social skills.

       

Salient Features

ü  It has eight social domains with 117 items,

ü  Age range - from 0 to 15 years.

ü  It is usually administered through the caregiver.

ü  Used in clinical, teaching, and research settings.

ü  It has been standardized and practiced in India which has 89 items in 8 domains.

ü  It is often used to assess intelligence, by proxy, especially when other standardized intelligence tests cannot be administered.

ü  In India, VSMS is mandatory to administer to arrive at the level of disability, for certification as well as for providing disability benefits.

ü  VSMS is administered for the main purpose of determining the social and adaptive functions.

ü  Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS) is generally used to determine three related but different aspects, which are (i) social and adaptive functions, (ii) level of disability, and (iii) intelligence.

Recording

        Record Sheet is used for noting the child’s responses. Mark the item pass (+) if the child is able to perform correctly and fail (-) if otherwise. Half credits may be given if it can be presumed that the child could have passed the item if the opportunity was present. These half credits receive full credit if they lie between two passed items.

Scoring        

        Add up passed scores (full and half). Find out the Social Age (SA) from Appendix-11 of the VSMS manual. Compute Social Quotient (SQ) by dividing SA by CA and multiplying by 100. Assess maturity levels both in terms of SA and SQ for each of the eight social areas by referring to VSMS norms and enter in the columns of the social maturity constellation record.

Psychometric Properties

        The reliability of the VSMS ranged from 0.85 to 0.9. It has good concurrent validity of at least 0.8 with intelligence tests in children with mental retardations. The maturity age associated with the level of functioning was calculated along with a social maturity age that is then converted to an index called the ‘social quotient’ (SQ). The VSMS total score was validated by Roszkowski (1980) who found a strong correlation of 0.79.

Applications

It is used at least for three different (but mutually not exclusive) purposes.

Ø  to assess social and adaptive functions, in different domains and to plan intervention

Ø  to assess the extent of disability, for certification and providing disability benefits, and

Ø  to assess intelligence

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