Parents' and teachers' ratings of children's social skills and problem behaviors: Their relationship to academic achievement and their level of congruence

This study examined parents' and teachers' ratings of the social skills and problem behaviors of elementary school children. Teachers and parents rated fifty children on measures of social skills and problem behaviors. Additionally, this study compared children receiving social skills as part of their academic class room instruction with those who did not. The results revealed that children receiving social skill instruction had higher levels of social skills than the school not receiving social skill instruction. Additionally, teachers' ratings of children's level of problem behaviors and social skills, and parents' ratings were not statistically different from each other. Simultaneous multiple regression analyses demonstrated that none of the parents' or teachers' ratings of children's social skills were predictive of children's reading or mathematics achievement. However, stepwise regression analysis did find that teachers' ratings of problem behaviors were predictive of a total reading score for the children at school B. Although this study indicated that parents' and teachers' ratings of social skills were congruent, the correlation coefficient was not significant enough to establish a relationship between the two. Because students at school A received social skill instruction and students in school B did not, it is likely that a similar study should be conducted having social skill instruction at both schools rather than one. In addition, the possibility of using other variables to explore the relationship between social skills and problem behaviors is also needed. Finally, this study refuted Vygotsky's social learning theory that supports the notion of children's social competence is related to their academic achievement. There was minimal support for the assumed relationship between social skills and academic achievement.