Analysis of the social skills of primary school 4th and 5th grade students in terms of certain variables

In this study, the effects of certain variables on the social skills of primary school 4th and 5th grade students are analysed. The research was conducted on 150 students at 15 primary schools in the city centre of Afyonkarahisar during the 2006-2007 education period.Survey model was used in the study. The scales used in the study were a social skills questionnaire and an identification form. In order to determine the social skills levels of the students, a social skills questionnaire was filled in for each student by both his parents and his class teacher. As a result of factor analysis, question groups were formed in order to determine the social skills in such areas as compatibility, planning, problem solving, coping with stress, group work, controlling and expressing feelings, self-introduction and individual relations, and in areas aimed at understanding one?s feelings. To determine certain variables used in the research like gender, subscribed periodicals, asking the child? opinion, education status of the parents and occupational status of the parents, a separate form was filled in.The mean values of the scores obtained through the scale were assessed statistically. The meaningfulness level was accepted as 0.05 in the study. In order to compare the scores obtained through the scales, t-test and one-way ANOVA were used. Frequency, percentage and mean were used to determine the distribution.According to the study, it was concluded that the social skills levels of primary school 4th and 5th grade students showed significant differences in terms of subscribing a periodical for home, asking the child?s opinions for decisions at home, while showing partly significant differences in terms of gender and education status of the father and no significant differences in terms of education status of the mother and occupational status of the parents.