Gender differences of children's social skills and parenting using Interaction Rating Scale (IRS)

Background: The purpose of this paper is to describe the gender differences of the Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) as an evidence-based practical index of children's social skills and parenting.Methods: The participants in our study, which was conducted as part of a Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) cohort study project, were 370 dyads of children with their caregivers were followed up and surveyed at aged 18, 30, and 42 month. The participants completed the five minute interaction session and were observed using the IRS.Results: The results indicated the gender differences of IRS scores. Girls got rather high score at all ages. IRS can measure children's social skill development and parenting with high validity. Along with the qualitative differences of interaction between boys and girls, the IRS is effective in describing features of social skill development and parenting.Conclusion: The IRS provides further evidence of the fact that in order to study children's social skill development, it is important to evaluate various features of the caregiver-child interaction as a predictor of social skills.