The relationship between social skill levels and perceived parental attitudes of gifted and typically developing secondary school students

The aim of this study is to reveal whether the social skill levels of secondary school students diagnosed as gifted differ from their normally developing peers and to examine the relationship between social skill levels and perceived parental attitudes. The sample of the study, in which the relational scanning model was used, consists of 329 normally developing secondary school students studying in Karabük in the 2022-2023 academic year and 200 gifted secondary school students studying at BİLSEMs in Karabük and Zonguldak provinces. Data were collected with Parent Attitude Scale, Social Skills Scale and Personal Information Form. Unrelated Samples T Test, Pearson Correlation Analysis and Hierarchical Regression Analysis were used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the research, it was observed that the acceptance/interest and control/supervision sub-dimensions of the perceived parental attitude did not differ according to being gifted, and the perceived psychological autonomy level of gifted children was lower than that of children with normal development. It was concluded that the social skill levels of the gifted students were higher than the social skill levels of the students with normal development. A moderate, positive and significant relationship was found between the social skill levels of both gifted and normally developing students and the perceived parental attitudes of acceptance/interest and control/supervision. When the relationship between social skill levels and the psychological autonomy dimension, which is one of the perceived parental attitudes, was examined, no significant relationship was found between the variables. Social skills are predicted by parents' acceptance/interest and control/supervision attitudes and special abilities, respectively. All these findings were discussed within the scope of literature studies and suggestions were made.