Social Climate Scales

The Social Climate Scales comprise 10 separate scales; each taps the social climate of a different setting. The first group, the Family Environment Scale, Group Environment Scale, and Work Environment Scale, [Page 920]measure the social climate in community settings. The Classroom Environment Scale and University Residence Environment Scale tap the social climate in educational settings. The Community-Oriented Programs Environment Scale, Ward Atmosphere Scale, and Sheltered Care Environment Scale focus on treatment and residential care settings, and the Correctional Institutions Environment Scale and Military Environment Inventory measure the social climate in these two settings. The Work Environment Scale is published by Consulting Psychologists Press (http://www.cpp.com), the Sheltered Care Environment Scale is available in a monograph published by Sage (http://www.sagepub.com), and the other scales are published by Mind Garden (http://www.mindgarden.com).

Each of the scales measures relationship, personal growth or goal orientation, and system maintenance and change dimensions. Relationship dimensions assess the quality of personal relationships in a setting. They measure how involved people are in a setting, how much they help each other, and how openly they express feelings.

Personal growth or goal orientation dimensions tap how an environment encourages specific goals and directions of change. For example, in the family, these dimensions reflect independence, achievement, intellectual and cultural orientation, participation in recreation, and moral and religious values. In the workplace, they assess employees' autonomy, task orientation, and work pressure.

System maintenance and change dimensions measure order and organization in a setting, how clear it is in its expectations, how much control it maintains, and how responsive it is to change.

Each of the Social Climate Scales has three forms: the Real Form (Form R), the Ideal Form (Form I), and the Expectations Form (Form E). The Real Form asks people how they see a social environment. The Ideal Form asks about a preferred or ideal setting. The Expectations Form asks people to describe what they imagine a new, unfamiliar environment will be like. These forms of the scales measure how people see the settings they are in, what an ideal setting for them would include, and what they expect a new setting they are about to enter will be like.

Each of the scales is based on extensive normative and psychometric data; the subscales have adequate internal consistency, stability, and construct and predictive validity. The scales have many practical applications. They are used to educate clinicians, consultants, and program evaluators about social environments and to help them describe environments, formulate clinical case descriptions, facilitate individual and family counseling, match individuals and environments, and plan interventions to improve environments. With respect to research applications, the scales are used to compare and contrast environments, understand the determinants and impacts of social climate, predict adjustment to life crises, and identify environmental risk factors.