The Predictive Power of Preschool Children’s Social Behaviors on Their Play Skills

Abstract

The aim of this research study is to investigate children’s play skills in terms of social behaviours (physical aggression, relational aggression, positive social behaviors, and depressive feelings). The participants in this study consisted of 300 children between 60 and 72 months studying at preschool education institutions. The research data were collected via the “Preschool Social Behaviour Scale-Instructer Form” and the “Play Skills Assessment Scale”. Pearson’s correlsation analysis and simple linear regression analysis were performed to evaluate the data. The results of the research study indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between children’s positive social behaviours and play skills while there is a significant negative relationship between children’s play skills and the subscales of physical aggression, relational aggression, and depressive feelings. Besides, the results indicate that children’s social behaviours (physical aggression, relational aggression, positive social behaviors and depressive feelings) are predictive of play skills. It can be concluded that 16.8% of total variance is explained by the subscales “positive social behaviors”, 9.6% is explained by “relational aggression”, 2.4% is explained “physical aggression” and 1.2% is explained by “depressive feelings”.