• You're wondering if your kid's behavior is normal.angry preschooler image by Lisa Eastman from Fotolia.com
  
  According to At Health, studies show that unless children achieve social competence by age 6, they have a high probability of being at risk as adults. One way child psychologists test a child's social competence is with a Child Behavior Checklist. Parents are asked either to agree or disagree with a list of statements about their children. Psychologists use the parents' answers to determine whether their children need professional help.
  
  

Individual Attributes

• The Child Behavior Checklist begins with a series of questions about the child's personality. These statements relate to the child's mood, independence from parents and teachers, reactions to discipline and willingness to obey orders. There are also statements about the emotions the child displays to other living things. Parents must observe whether their kid seems to show the capacity to empathize with other people or animals. They also need to check whether the kid has good relationships with at least one or two peers, which means other kids the same age. Parents must state whether their child seems to care about his friends and ever mentions missing them if they aren't around. This part of the checklist also inquires about the child's sense of humor.
  
  

Social Skills Attributes

• The second part of the Child Behavior Checklist is all about how children react and interact with other kids and people in general. Parents must either agree or disagree that their child generally approaches others positively but also asserts her own needs and rights appropriately and doesn't get intimidated by bullies. Children must express wishes and preferences clearly, then be able to reason their desires and opinions. Social competence also involves expressing anger and frustration without throwing tantrums or erupting into violence. Kids need to be able to join groups that have already formed, then make appropriate contributions to those groups in the form of questions and exchanges of information. They must be willing to take turns and negotiate compromises without always drawing inappropriate attention to themselves. Well-adapted children need to be able to interact with people from different ethnic groups. They also should be interacting nonverbally with other kids in a positive manner, with smiles and waves.
  
  

Peer Relationship Attitudes

• The third section of the Child Behavior Checklist may be the most difficult to answer because it addresses how other children react to the child in question. Parents must answer whether their kid is usually accepted by other kids at school or in social environments, rather than ignored or completely rejected. They also need to observe whether other kids sometimes invite their kid to join groups for play, friendship and work. Finally, they must answer whether other kids name their kid as someone they consider a friend or someone they would like to play or work with. According to the Violence Institute of New Jersey, parents may need a teacher's help when filling out this portion of the checklist.