Toward defining and measuring social skills in employment settings

Although it is clear that appropriate social skills are related to job success, little agreement has been reached on how to define and measure social skills. In this article a definition of social skills was proposed that will begin to identify the components that need to be considered when teaching social skills to individuals with mental retardation in employment settings. In addition, three measurement approaches were discussed that further operationalize these components. Current social skills training research in employment settings was reviewed and discussed with respect to the measurement approaches proposed in this article.