Social Competence and Its Related Factors in High School Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Social competence can help adolescents achieve effective social interactions and establish and maintain successful relationships with peers and society.

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of social competence and its related factors in high school students in Rasht City, Iran.

In the cross-sectional analytical study, 491 high school students in Rasht were selected by multi-stage random cluster sampling. The study tool was a two-part questionnaire: the demographic characteristics of the participants and the social competence questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, 1-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), the Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t test, and multiple linear regression were used for statistical analysis.

Of 491 students, 65.4% were female, 63.1% were the first child of the family, and 94.3% had normal sleep amount. Also, 94.1% of students lived with their parents. Their mean social competence was at the desired level (261.7±8.31, total score: 47-329). There was a significant relationship between school grade point average (r=0.271, P=0.001), duration of Internet use (r=-0.103, P=0.022), and students’ sleep amount with social competence based on 1-way ANOVA test (P=0.005). Based on multiple linear regression analysis, a high-grade point average was associated with increased social competence (B=7.54, 95% CI; 5.43 to 9.78, P=0.001) and female gender (B=-6.71, 95% CI; -13.15 to -0.26, P=0.04), being the second child compared to the first (B=-8.19, 95% CI; -14.48 to -1.90, P=0.011), insomnia (B=-19.07, 95% CI; -36.14 to -2.01, P=0.029) and parental divorce and living with father (B=-46.47, 95% CI; -81.95 to -10.99, P=0.01) were associated with low social competence (R2=0.16). 

These results can help managers plan educational and training organizations and promote parents’ awareness to eliminate everyday barriers and develop social competence in adolescents.