The convergent validity of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Individuals with Severe Retardation (MESSIER)

The convergent validity of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Persons with Severe Retardation (MESSIER) was examined. We administered the MESSIER and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) to 892 individuals with severe and profound mental retardation residing in a residential state facility. The MESSIER subscales were compared to equivalent subdomains from the VABS that have been demonstrated through research to be both reliable and valid. Significant positive correlations were found between corresponding MESSIER subscales and VABS subdomains on social behaviors. The findings also indicated that this pattern of positive correlation remained constant when comparing both verbal and nonverbal social behaviors. The implications and clinical utility of the findings are discussed.