Prevalence of Social Skills among Urban Adolescents in West Bengal

Description

Page: 1791-1796

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17829156

Sahanowas Sk (Department of Education, Government General Degree College, Narayangarh,
Affiliated to Vidyasagar University, Bhadrakali, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal)

Social skills are undoubtedly significant for adolescents’ present academic success and future employability. In the developmental stage, they go through several intra- and interpersonal challenges related to their academic and non-academic areas. They experience unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and sometimes self-harming behavior. Empirical research shows that fostering social skills effectively promotes their psychological well-being and academic performance. Present research examined the social skills among the adolescents and sought to explore the prevalence in the urban areas of West Bengal. The researcher selected 100 willing secondary school students (50 boys & 50 girls) from two higher secondary schools in Kolkata, West Bengal. Social skills were measured by applying the Social Skills Scale developed by Uslu and Genç (2021). K-means clustering analysis revealed that the majority of the students possessed moderate to high levels of overall social skill and its dimensions, except verbal communication and conflict resolution, where the majority of the students showed moderate to low levels of social skills. The outcomes of the study raise awareness and highlight the need for developing social skills and creating a supportive environment in secondary schools, as well as initiating programs designed to foster socio-emotional learning, as well as teacher training and professional development to help educators.