Relationship between social skills, depressive symptoms and school success among high school students

Cilj istraživanja bio je ispitati odnos socijalnih vještina, školskog uspjeha i depresivnih simptoma kod srednjoškolaca. Nastojalo se utvrditi postoji li povezanost između navedene tri varijable te djeluju li spol, školski uspjeh i njihova interakcija na socijalne vještine i depresivne simptome. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od 182 sudionika drugog, trećeg i četvrtog razreda Prirodoslovno-matematičke gimnazije u Osijeku tijekom svibnja i lipnja 2013. godine. 101 sudionik bio je ženskog, a 81 muškog spola. U istraživanju je za mjerenje socijalnih vještina korišten Upitnik socijalnih vještina (SSQ; Social Skills Questionnaire; Gresham i Elliot, 1990), za mjerenje depresivnih simptoma Skala depresivnosti za djecu (CDI; Children Depression Inventory; Kovacs, 1985), a od sudionika se tražilo i da navedu opći uspjeh na kraju prethodno završenog razreda što je predstavljalo mjeru školskog uspjeha. Rezultati su pokazali statistički značajnu negativnu povezanost između socijalnih vještina i depresivnih simptoma kao i između depresivnih simptoma i školskog uspjeha. Povezanost socijalnih vještina i školskog uspjeha nije se pokazala statistički značajnom. Složenom analizom varijance utvrđen je statistički značajan glavni efekt školskog uspjeha na socijalne vještine, odlični učenici imali su razvijenije socijalne vještine od vrlo dobrih. Glavni efekt spola i interakcije spola i školskog uspjeha na socijalne vještine nije se pokazao statistički značajnim kao ni glavni efekt spola, školskog uspjeha te njihove interakcije na depresivne simptome.The aim of this study was to examine relationship between social skills, school success and depressive symptoms among high school students. Purpose was to investigate correlation between these three variables and effect of gender, school performance and their interaction on social skills and depressive symptoms. The study was conducted on a sample of 182 participants attending second, third and fourth grade of Gymnasium of natural sciences and mathematics in Osijek during May and June of 2013. 101 participants were female and 81 were male. The instruments which were used included Social Skills Questionnaire (SSQ; Gresham and Elliot, 1990) as a measure of social skills and Children Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs, 1985) as a measure of depressive symptoms. Participants were also asked to enter grade point average they had at the end of the previously completed grade as the measure of school success. Results showed a significant negative relationship between social skills and depressive symptoms as well as between depressive symptoms and school success. Relationship between social skills and school success was not statistically significant. Complex analysis of variance showed statistically significant main effect of school success on social skills, excellent students had better social skills than very good students. The main effects of gender and the interaction of gender and academic success on social skills were not statistically significant nor the main effect of gender, school success, and their interactions on depressive symptoms