An investigation of the relationship between 6. and 7. grade students social skills and parental social anxiety

In this study, the relationship between the social anxiety (social desertion, anxiety for being criticized, sense of worthlessness) of the parents of 6. and 7. grade students of primary education, and the social skill levels (positive and negative social behaviour) of the students have been investigated.The study group is composed of 237 students at 6. or 7. grade of 3 primary schools in Çankaya, Ankara in 2006-2007 education year and their parents.In the present study, Information Form for Parents, Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with youngsters and Social Anxiety Scale have been applied.According to the results of the present work, the variables affecting the positive social behaviour which is a lower dimension (group) of social skills have been observed to be; father?s sense of worthlessness, one of the lower dimensions of social anxiety and social desertion. On the other hand, negative social behaviour, being a lower dimension of social skills has been found to be affected by father?s sense of worthlessness, gender, class level and the father?s anxiety for being criticized, respectively.In conclusion, the results showed that social skill level has been mostly affected by the father?s social anxiety, followed by gender and class level variables. The mother?s social anxiety and age variables were not found to have an effect on the social skills of students. The social anxiety of father has been observed to have a greater effect on the social skills of students.