A Tool for Identifying Preschoolers' Deficits in Social Competence: The Preschool Taxonomy of Problem Situations

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, the article describes the development of the Preschool Taxonomy of Problem Situations (PTOPS), a preschool age-appropriate version of the Taxonomy of Problematic Social Situations. The PTOPS is a measure of preschoolers' social competence across specific social contexts. Second, the psychometric properties of the PTOPS are examined using a clinical sample of maltreated children, a population that is frequently characterized by social incompetence. The findings reveal that the PTOPS subscales demonstrate high internal reliability. The PTOPS subscales are also highly convergent with subscales of a widely used measure of preschoolers' problem behavior, the Preschool Behavior Questionnaire. However, the PTOPS subscales are not correlated with another frequently used measure of preschoolers' behavior, the Child Behavior Checklist/2-3. Possible explanations for this discrepancy are discussed, as well as potential practical applications of the PTOPS, and suggestions for future research with the measure.