Comparison of Social Skills of Primary School Children With and Without Parents With Mental Disorders

Introduction: Social skills are considered to be one of the important factors in the success or failure of every individual in a society. The present study was designed to determine the social skills of primary school children with and without parents of mental disorders.  Methods: In this research 60 kids between 6-12 years were selected using available sampling method, who had parents with mental disorder in addition to 60 kids at the same age who didn’t have parents with mental disorder. Research setting was Farshchian hospital in Hamadan city in 2017. Data was collected with demographic questionnaire and Gresham and Eliot with category scale of social skills that was completed by parents. Data was analyzed using SPSS 21 and descriptive statistics and inferential statistics including T test, covariance analysis and Chi-square test. Result: The score of social skill in kids who had parents with mental disorder was 56.43±10.8 and in kids who didn’t have parents with mental disorder was 58.46±8.70. Comparing social skills in two groups showed that they are not significant difference in mean Score in social skills and its dimensions (cooperation, decisiveness, self-control and responsibility). Although there aren’t significant difference between two groups, mean score in witness group was more than another group (P=0.259). Conclusion: The social skills of children in both groups were at the medium range and were not of a desirable level. This calls for a review of family-based education and educational approaches, as well as training programs to promote social skills.