Examining primary school first graders'social competence and readiness

The purpose of this study is to examine primary school first graders' social competence, negative social behavior, and readiness based on certain variables. The study employed the quantitative research method and used the relational survey model, which is a descriptive survey model. The research sampleconsists of 249 primary school first graders determined through simple random sampling.The research data were collected in the 2016-2017 academic year.For data collection, "Personal Information Form" was used for obtaining demographic information about the students; "School Social Behavior Scale" was used for measuring the students' social competence and negative social behaviors; and "Readiness Scale" was used for measuring their readiness. The data were analyzed through SPSS 20. As the data did not have a normal distribution, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were carried out. Also, Spearman-Brown rank order correlation coefficient was used for identifying the relationship existing between the variables.The study found out that pre-school education, gender, and parental educational level have significant effects on first graders' social competence, negative social behavior, and readiness. The study also determined a positive relationship between primary school first graders' social competence and readiness. In the end, the findings were discussed in light of the related studies and literature, and some recommendations were put forward.