Analyzing Factors Affecting Social Skills Development Among Students in Indonesian Schools

Abstract

The development of students’ social skills is critical since they influence their academic performance and achievement.  School provides optimal environment for students to learn these skills.  Even though social skills are critical, there is still a lack in past research that examines the aspects that contribute to the development of students' social skills, particularly in school. Recognising the importance of this, the focus of this study is to identify characteristics that influence the development of social skills from a social cognitive perspective. This study sought to investigate the impact of emotional intelligence, teacher-student connections, student voice, and friendship quality on students’ social skills at school. The method utilised was a survey with multistage random sampling. The study sample comprised of 1012 students aged 11 to 19 who were recruited at random from various schools in major Indonesian cities. The research instruments used in this study were emotional intelligence scale, teacher-student relationship scale, student voice scale, friendship quality scale, and social skills scale. The analysis technique used is the SEM model (structural equation model) with the Variance based matric structural equation modelling (VB-SEM) structural equation model. The results showed emotional intelligence, teacher-student relationships, student voice, and friendship quality had in impact on students’ social skills.