The Relationship among social skills, school adjustment, and the level of depression of the elementary school students in 4 th and 5 th grades

The aim of the study is to search the relationship among social skills and school adjustment, and the level of depression of the elementary school students in 4th and 5th grades. The sample of the study includes 365 students studying in the 4th and 5th grades of different schools in İzmir in the academic year of 2000-2001. The number of girls were 180 and the number of boys were 185. The data was collected through the use of four different measures. Walker-McConnell Scale of Social Skills And School Adjustment was used to measure social skills and school adjustment of the students. Children Depression Inventory was used to measure the level of depression of the students. Sociometric Test was used to measure the social relationships of the students among each other, and personal information form was used to measure some socio-demographic data of the sample. The data was analyzed by using factor analysis, Pearson Product Moment correlation, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), the test of Bonferronni, Dunnett C and t test. The results of the research are presented as follows : 1. Some significant relations between the students' depression scores and school adjustment and social skills were found.XI 2. The following variables were found significantly related to the students' social skills and school adjustment : Socio-economic level, sex, the status of their parents and the sequence of siblings. 3. The following variables were found significantly related to the level of depression of the students : Socio-economic level and the sequence of siblings. 4. Some significant relations between the students' depression scores, social skills and school adjustment, and their academic achievement were found. Key Words : Elementary school, student, social skill, depression, school adjustment, sociometric status.