SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES) DIFFERENCES IN PRESCHOOLERS’ SOCIAL SKILLS

Background and Purpose: Socioeconomic status (SES) exert different influences on child development. However, very few studies had examined the effects of SES on positive socio-emotional development including social skills. Thus, this study aims to examine the level of social skills and explores the differences across SES.   Methodology: Parents of 339 preschoolers in Selangor, Malaysia were selected through stratified random sampling. The questionnaires were distributed to parents through pre-school children. In this study, the 34-items of social skills scale from Preschool and Kindergarten Behavioural Scale-Version 2 (PKBS-2) was used and descriptive and one-way Welch’s F-tests analysis were conducted.   Findings: The study showed that the level of social skills was average. Analysis found that the preschoolers’ social skills were differed significantly across maternal education, Welch’s F (2, 78.95) = 19.88, p < .0001 and paternal education, Welch’s F (2, 78.95) = 19.88, p < .0001. Moreover, there was a significant difference in social skills across parental income, Welch’s F (2, 83.48) = 13.59, p < .0001.   Contributions: Knowledge of the level of pre-school social skills and the differences across SES can provide basic information and recommendations to the parents, teachers and authorities to improve preschoolers’ social skills.   Keywords: Family income, parental education, preschoolers, social skills, Socioeconomic status (SES).   Cite as: Kassim, J., & Hutagalung, F. D. (2019). Socioeconomic status (SES) differences in preschoolers’ social skills.  Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(2), 303-328. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss2pp303-32