Social health: An investigation into social skills among students

Objective (s): Social skills are those behaviors that enable everyone to interact effectively. Developing such skills is one of the most important training objectives in childhood. Inadequate skills lead to weak school performance, isolation, rejection and psychological problems (anxiety, depression). This study investigated social skills scores in 8 randomly selected male/female orientation schools (grade3) and high-school (grades 1-3) in Karaj, Iran. Social skills were measured using the Gresham & Elliot standard questionnaire (Parents version). In all, 1544 parents of students responded to the questionnaire and the social skills scores were acquired for 1410 students. The mean age of the students was 15.7(SD=±1.3) years and most were at high school grade (%73.3). Overall the mean score of social skills was 52.3(SD=±27.8) and 65% of students were equal or less than 50th percentile of social skills.Statistical analysis showed significant differences between social skills scores and sex and grade (P. Value = 0.002 and 0.04 respectively). Also there was a statistical significant relation between student's school performances with social skills (P. Value < 0.02 and < 0.001). The findings suggest the need to renew the familial and cultural training styles. Using social health promotion approaches in schools would prevent weak school performance and improving cognitive problems.