Normative data and clinical usability of the brief examination of social abilities: a novel screening test for social cognition.

BACKGROUND

Social cognition impairments are common across neurological and psychiatric conditions and are associated with poor functional outcomes, yet their systematic assessment in routine clinical practice remains limited. This study aimed to introduce a novel screening battery for social cognition, the Brief Examination of Social Abilities (BE-Social), to provide Italian normative data and evidence on its clinical usability.

METHODS

The BE-Social assesses various socio-cognitive abilities (i.e., social perception, Theory of Mind (ToM), empathy, and social norm understanding) through seven tasks administered in approximately 15 min. Normative data were collected from 466 healthy adults, and clinical usability was assessed in 76 patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders. Psychometric properties, including internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity, were examined. Normative adjustments were derived using the Equivalent Score method. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to evaluate discriminative accuracy.

RESULTS

The BE-Social shows satisfactory internal consistency (McDonald's ω = 0.83) and moderate test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.66). Its score is associated with standardized measures of emotion recognition and ToM, but not with executive functions, attention, or memory, supporting its specificity. Age and education, but not sex, significantly predict performance. The BE-Social demonstrates good accuracy in distinguishing socio-cognitively impaired from non-impaired patients (AUC = 0.82). In patients, BE-Social scores are associated with emotion recognition, ToM, and social norm understanding, with these associations remaining significant after controlling for global cognitive functioning.

CONCLUSIONS

The BE-Social is a brief, reliable, and clinically feasible screening tool for assessing social cognition, supporting its use in routine assessment across neurological and psychiatric populations.