Investigation of the relationship between school anxiety and social skills of 57-68 months old kindergarten children

The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between school anxiety and social skills of 57-68 months old children attending preschool education. This study has six sub research questions. These sub research questions were asked to determine the children's school anxiety levels, social skill levels, whether school anxiety and social skill levels differ according to variables, the relationship between school anxiety and social skills of children, and how school anxiety predicts the social skills of children. In the study, the relational scanning model and descriptive scanning model were used from quantitative research methods. The universe of the research is 561 children and teachers (n: 33) who are 57-68 months old who attend official independent kindergartens affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Ergani district of Diyarbakır in 2019-2020 academic year. The sample of the study consists of 446 children, 57-68 months old, selected using simple random sampling method. "Demographic Information Form" prepared by the researcher, "School Anxiety Scale-Teacher Form" to measure school anxiety, and "Preschool Social Skill Assessment Scale- OSBED Teacher Form" to measure social skills were used as data collection tools in the research. Descriptive statistics, independent T-test, the one-way analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were chosen to analyze the obtained data, and the SPSS statistics program was used for analyzes. As a result of the study, it was determined that the children included in the sample experiences low school anxiety and their social skills are behind their peers. Statistically significant relationships were found between both school anxiety and social skills of children, and the status of siblings attending school, birth order, income level, father working time, and mother and father education levels. In addition, statistically significant relationships were found between school anxiety and family types of children variables, and between social skills, gender, and maternal working time variables. It was determined that there is a negative and moderate relationship between school anxiety and social skills of children. It was also concluded that the school anxiety of children negatively predicts their social skills.