Helping Students Make Informed Choices About College
Category: Pathways to and Through Postsecondary
Instrument Overview
Expert Notes AvailableView expert commentary on strengths and cautions for this instrument
Strengths
Widely used and well-established measure of interpersonal competence; applicable across adolescence through adulthood.
Cautions
Focuses primarily on peer/romantic contexts, less on professional or classroom-specific interactions; often embedded in broader studies on relationships, well-being, or social functioning rather than as a standalone outcome measure
The Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire (ICQ) is a self-report measure of individuals’ perceived ability to initiate, maintain, and manage interpersonal relationships. Developed by William Buhrmester and colleagues in 1988, it assesses five domains of interpersonal competence: Initiation of relationships, Self-disclosure, Negative assertion (e.g., standing up for oneself), Emotional support, and Conflict management.
The original ICQ consists of 40 items rated on a Likert-type scale and focuses primarily on competence in peer, friendship, and romantic relationship contexts.
Shorter versions (e.g., ICQ-15, ICQ-R) have been developed for research and clinical contexts with time constraints.
Organization
Collection Category(ies)
Content
Grades
Post secondary
Languages
English,
Chinese,
German,
Japanese,
Korean,
Polish
Administration Information
Length
40 items
Access and Use
Developer
Duane Buhrmester (UCLA) and Harry T. Reis (University of Rochester)
Open Access
Yes
Use in Research
Giromini, L., De Campora, G., Brusadelli, E., D’Onofrio, E., Zennaro, A., Zavattini, G. C., & Lang, M. (2016). Validity and reliability of the interpersonal competence questionnaire: Empirical evidence from an Italian study. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 38(1), 113-123.
Psychometrics (additional guidance)
Psychometric References
Huang, L., Huang, J., Chen, Z., Jiang, W., Zhu, Y., & Chi, X. (2022). Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the brief interpersonal competence questionnaire for adolescents. Children, 10(1), 59.
Yang, J. (2019). Development of Measures of the Interpersonal Skills and Perfectionism of Gifted Children (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Toledo).
Buhrmester, D., Furman, W., Wittenberg, M. T., & Reis, H. T. (1988). Five domains of interpersonal competence in peer relationships. Journal of Personality and Social psychology, 55(6), 991.
Populations of Validation
The ICQ has been validated primarily with adolescents and young adults, especially high school and college student populations in the United States. It has also been used and validated with adult and international samples, with evidence supporting its use across diverse cultural contexts.
