Adaptation of social-emotional expertise scale to Turkish

The way people interact with each other is quite complex. Depending on individual differences, some people may be more successful in their interactions with others. In this study, Social-Emotional Expertise Scale, which was developed on the concept of social-emotional expertise to understand these differences in social-interactions , was adapted to Turkish and reliability and validity analyzes of the scale were examined. The population of the research consisted of a total of 842 university students studying at Siirt University. In order to provide evidence for the validity of the Turkish version of the Social-Emotional Expertise Scale, 25 students studying at the Translation and Interpreting Studies Department completed the English form of the scale firstly and the Turkish form of the scale after 2 weeks. The Intraclass correlation coefficient calculated between the mean scores of the students in two forms was found statistically significant (r=.883, p˂.01). This result showed that the language equivalence is provided. In order to provide evidence of the construct validity of the scale, confirmatory factor analysis was performed with the data obtained from the research group. As a result of the confirmatory factor analysis, the fit index values showed that the two-factor structure presented by the original form was confirmed in the sample of Turkish university students. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of the scale was calculated to evaluate the internal consistency of the scale and it was found to be .855 (Adaptability .804, Expressivity .736). In addition, the reliability of the scale was examined by test-retest method and r = .838 (p=<.01) significance was found between the tests performed in two weeks time. These analyzes conducted to determine the reliability of the scale showed that the scale is a reliable measurement tool. In the study conducted to examine the criterion-related validity, a significant relationship was found between the mean scores of both scales (r = .615, p = ˂.01). These data indicate that the criterion-dependent validity of the scale is ensured. Correlation of the scales' filled by the person and a close friend of his/hers was evaluated by Pearson Correlation Analysis. There was a significant relation between the two forms ( r = .556, p˂.01). This correlation between the two forms can be a proof of the theoretical relation of social-emotional expertise with interpersonal sensitivity.