Investigation of the relationship between preschool students' motor skill levels and their social behavior

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the motor development levels and social development levels of preschool students studying in the 2024-2025 academic year. In the study, the relationship between motor skill levels and social development characteristics of preschool students according to gender and age variables was examined. The research group consists of 168 preschool students. Of these students, 48,8% were female (n=82) and 51,2% were male (n=86). According to age distribution, 11,9% of the students were 4 years old (n=20), 39,3% were 5 years old (n=66) and 48,8% were 6 years old (n=82). Preschool Social Behavior Scale Teacher Form (PSSBS-TF) and Large Muscle Skills Measurement Test were applied as data collection tools in the study. Descriptive analysis of the obtained data was conducted. The normality test of the data was tested with One-sample Kolmogorov Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk test and it was observed that the data showed normal distribution. Then, independent simple-t test was applied to analyze the data according to gender variable and Kruskal-Wallis H Test was applied for comparisons according to age variable. Finally, Spearman correlation test was used in the correlation analysis in order to see the relationship between motor skill and social skill levels. As a result of the study, it was found that children with high locomotor skill levels showed a decrease in physical and relational aggression, and at the same time showed positive social behavior.