The relationship between the perceived social support level of gifted students and their social emotional skills

This research examines the relationship between the perceived social support level of gifted students and their social emotional skills. The study population consists of 378 identified gifted students of 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades in Ankara. The sample is obtained from chosen 192 participants, 94 females and 98 males. Relational screening and mixed research methods are elaborated in the present study. As for data collection tools, the Social-Emotional Learning Skills Scale (SELSS) developed by Kabakçı (2006) , the Revision of Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS-R) developed by Yıldırım (2004), a personal information form containing demographic characteristics and semi-structured interview form are used. SELSS scale consists of 40 sentences and four subscales. The KMO value of the scale is 0.88 . The PSSS-R scale consists of three subscales and 50 sentences. Yıldırım (2004) detected KMO subscales' values very high between 0.94 and 0.85. In the analysis of quantitative data, t-test, one way ANOVA test, Tukey Post-Hoc test was used. The relationship between the variables of the study were tested by Pearson correlation analysis, the effect level was tested by the regression analysis. According to the findings obtained from this study, there is a positive linear relationship between perceived social support level and social-emotional skills. Highest social support is perceived from the family, while the lowest social support is perceived from teachers. Social-emotional skills' scores of female students are higher than those of male students. The points of skills that increase the self-esteem are higher than the points of stress coping ability. Socia-economic status (SES) values have no effect on social-emotional skills. Parental unity, on the other hand, makes a positive impact on perceived social support. Comparisons made by other demographic variables are detected statistically insignificant. In summary, it was concluded in Turkey are not met enough of the social-emotional needs of gifted students. Keywords: Perceived social support, social-emotional learning skills, gifted students