The Social Climate Scales are a set of environmental assessment procedures designed to be used by qualified clinicians, consultants, program evaluators, and researchers.
This Guide to the Social Climate Scales introduces the ten Scales and gives an overview of their use. The topics covered in the Guide apply to all the Scales:
Use this Guide with the separate Scale manuals, which give detailed information about each Scale’s development, norms, practical applications, psychometric characteristics, and research.
Copyright © 1994, 2003 by Rudolf H. Moos
Scale | Environment Assessed |
Community Settings
Community Oriented Programs Environment Scale | Community treatment programs (100 items, 10 subscales: normed on 192 programs containing 4,692 members and 186 programs containing 1,134 staff) |
Family Environment Scale | Families, including single-parent and stepfamilies (90 items, 10 subscales; normed on 1,432 normal and 788 distressed families) |
Group Environment Scale | Social, task-oriented, psychotherapy, and mutual support groups (90 items,10 subscales, normed on 305 groups) |
Work Environment Scale | Work milieus (90 items, 10 subscales; normed on over 8,300 employees) |
Educational Environments
Classroom Environment Scale | Junior high and high school classes in regular, vocational, and alternative schools (90 items, 9 subscales, normed on 382 classes) |
University Residence Environment Scale | University student living groups, including dormitories, fraternities, sororities, and student cooperatives (100 items, 10 subscales, normed on 168 living groups) |
Residential Care and Treatment Settings
Ward Atmosphere Scale | Hospital-based treatment programs, including alcoholism and substance abuse programs (100 items, 10 subscales, normed on 193 programs) |
Other Institutions
Correctional Institutions Environment Scale | Juvenile and adult correctional facilities (90 items, 9 subscales, normed on 112 juvenile and 83 adult units) |
Military Environment Inventory | Military units, including those in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and National Guard (84 items, 7 subscales, normed on 32 military companies) |
"The social climate is the 'personality' of a setting or environment, such as a family, a workplace, a social or task-oriented group, or a classroom. Each social setting has a unique 'personality' that gives it unity and coherence. Like people, some social environments are friendlier and more supportive than others. Just as some people are self-directed and task oriented, some environments encourage self-direction and task orientation. Like people, environments differ in how restrictive and controlling they are.
-- Rudolf Moos, Social Climate Scales: A User's Guide