Investigating social competence levels interms of having sibling(s) or being a single-child in adolescents

This study was conducted to compare individuals with sibling(s) and with no sibling in terms of social competence and to determine the effectiveness degree of four factors (sibship size, age gap, gender of the sibling, birth order) on social competence performance. The study was conducted with 75 (F: 34, M:41) single-child adolescents and 168 ( F: 75, M: 93) adolescents with sibling(s) whose ages vary from 15 to 18 years ( x ?: 16.48, SD: 1.03). Social Skills Inventory was applied to participants. Individuals with sibling (s) and with no siblings were compared in terms of the scores achieved from six sub-dimensions of social competence (Affective Expressivity, Affective Sensitivity, Affective Control, Social Expressivity, Social Sensitivity, Social Control) and the total score. Since only a difference in terms of affective control was observed as a result of a comparison between individuals with sibling (s) and with no siblings, analysis was conducted only for the effects of fellowship factors on the affective control score. The results of the study pointed out that the individuals with sibling(s) showed better performance on only the affective control score than individuals with no siblings. Differences were not significant regarding the affective expressiveness, affective sensitivity, social expressiveness, social sensitivity, social control and total score among individuals. Moreover, a relationship between the affective control score and age gap was detected. On the other hand, no relationship was discovered between the sibship size, birth order and gender of sibling and the affective control score. Key words: Social Competence, Only- child, Sibling, Affective Control