THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL SKILLS AND PSYCHOSOCIAL FUNCTIONING IN EARLY ADOLESCENCE

This study discusses the relationship between adolescents' social skills and four indicators of psycho-social functioning, viz. self-esteem, well-being, coping and social support. A total of 660 adolescents, 13-15 years of age, responded to a series of self-report measures which referred to these several domains. Correlational and regression analysis showed that the social skills measure and the different psycho-social measures were clearly related. Furthermore, after the social skills measure had led to the identification of three subgroups (Subassertives, Assertives and Indifferents), these groups also showed distinguishable profiles in the different psycho-social measures. The results are discussed in terms of whether psycho-social functioning is related to level of anxiety or level of performance in social situations.