It is very important that children are brought up in a healthy manner in all respects (Ünal, 2008). Children, from the moment they are born, lay the foundations of their personalities and psychological systems based on the interactions they have with their families. The relationship between parents and children requires that parents not only meet their children’s basic needs for shelter and nutrition but also that they give appropriate care and love to their children. A loving and peaceful family environment, and healthy attitudes that the parents provide for the children, regulate children’s behavior, social relationships, and their adaptation to society. Therefore, the behavior and attitudes that the parents display to their children, the environment in which the children grow up, the behavior of adults other than their parents around them, and the kind of communication that takes place in the family home are important for the children to develop a healthy personality (Bayhan, 1998; Kars, 1996). However, knowingly or unknowingly, parents may communicate with their children in ways that may hinder their children’s physical, social, and psychological development (Bulut, 1996). This behavior may manifest itself in basic forms such as violence towards the children, not meeting the children’s basic needs, or not protecting them against exposure to danger from the environment or people. Child abuse and neglect consist of all the actions or inactions directed towards children by adults, such as the parents or caregivers, that are considered by social rules or professionals, to be inappropriate or harmful, and that hinder or restrict children’s development. As a result of these actions or inactions, the children may suffer physical, psychological, or social harm and their health or security may be endangered (Tıraşçı & Gören, 2007). Child abuse and child neglect are problems that involve not only families but also social organizations, legal systems, the educational system, and business environments (Akduman, Ruban, Akduman, & Korkmaz, 2005; Taner & Gökler, 2004). Because neglect and abuse of children may recur, and these actions or inactions are performed on the children by their closest acquaintances, abuse and neglect have long-term effects on children that may continue for years. It is, therefore, vital that neglect and abuse are identified and treated (Bahar, Savaş, & Bahar, 2009). An examination of the relevant literature reveals that developmental delays, brain damage, learning disorders, depression, low academic achievement, speech disorders, poor peer relationships, inclination towards crime, alcohol and substance abuse, sleep disorders, eating disorders, low self-esteem, hyperactive or destructive/harmful behavior patterns, aggression, and fury appear in children and adolescents who have been exposed to abuse or neglect (Crozier & Barth, 2005). In my study, I examined the relationship between the abuse that students in second-stage primary education experience in the family home, and their social skills.

Method

Participants

I used a general survey model with randomly selected children (187 girls, 160 boys) aged between 12 and 14 years, who attended primary schools in the province of Konya, Turkey. As regards socioeconomic status (SES), 113 of the children came from families of low SES, 138 of middle SES, and 96 of high SES. There were 110 children in the 6th grade; 118 in 7th grade; and 119 in 8th grade. The average age of the children who participated in the study was 13.68 years.

Instruments

Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Youngsters. The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Youngsters (MESSY; Matson, Rotatory, & Hessel, 1983) is a 5-point Likert type scale consisting of 47 items prepared to evaluate the social skills of children aged between 12 and 14. Participants are asked to rate each item on a scale of 1 = never experienced to 5 = always experienced. The lowest score that can be received is 47, while the highest score is 235. The scale consists of two subdimensions, namely positive social behaviors and negative social behaviors. The scale was adapted into Turkish by Bacanli and Erdoğan (2003) and tested with 180 students aged between 12 and 14 (89 boys and 91 girls) and found to be valid and reliable in evaluating social skills. The MESSY has five factors; appropriate social skills, inappropriate assertiveness, impulsiveness/recalcitrance, overconfidence, and jealousy/withdrawal. As a result of the factor analysis, it was observed, that, unlike in the original, there were 47 items of the scale concentrated on two factors. The first of the two factors obtained was named negative social behaviors, and the second positive social behaviors. The Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient was .68 for negative social behaviors, .74 for the positive social behaviors, and .85 for the total.

Domestic Child Abuse Scale – Form B (Bekçi, 2006). This scale was developed for an overall review of the abuse experienced by students in second-stage primary education by evaluating all forms of abuse together. It is a 5-point Likert-type scale consisting of 26 questions and six subdimensions: physical abuse, supporting development, directing to crime (inciting the child to commit a crime when the child is too young to judge what is right or wrong), and sexual abuse, neglect and emotional threat, educational abuse (putting pressure on the child to be academically successful), and lack of rules and support. High scores obtained in the supporting development subdimension of the scale indicate that children are appropriately supported by the family in terms of development and are not exposed to abuse, whereas high scores obtained from the other subdimensions indicate that children are exposed to abuse within the home. In the reliability study, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.74 for the whole scale and coefficients varied between 0.55 and 0.84 for the subdimensions. The test-retest reliability was found to be 0.88. The results of the validity and reliability studies that were conducted indicated that the Domestic Child Abuse Scale – Form B was an efficient assessment instrument for evaluating child abuse.

Procedure

The scales were completed by the children. The Pearson correlation coefficient technique was used to determine the relationship between child abuse in the family and social skills of children aged between 12 and 14.

Results

As seen in Table 1, there was a positive relationship between physical abuse and negative social skills at p < .01 and a negative relationship with positive social skills at p < .01; there was a negative relationship between supporting development and negative social skills at p < .01, and a positive relationship with positive social skills at p < .01; there was a positive relationship between directing to crime and sexual abuse and negative social skills at p < .01 and a negative relationship with positive social skills at p < .01; there was a positive relationship between neglect and emotional abuse and negative social skills at p < .01 and a positive relationship with positive social skills at p < .01; there was a positive relationship between educational abuse and negative social skills at p < .01 and a negative relationship with positive social skills at p < .01; and there was a positive relationship between lack of rules and support and negative social skills at p < .01 and a positive relationship with positive social skills at p < .01.

Discussion

There was a positive and significant relationship between physical abuse, directing to crime and sexual abuse, neglect and emotional threat, educational abuse, and lack of rules and support and negative social skills, and a negative and significant relationship of all these subdimensions with positive social skills. There was a negative and significant relationship between supporting development and negative social skills and a positive and significant relationship of supporting development with positive social skills. In the light of these findings, it can be argued that abuse within the family increases children’s negative social skills whereas supporting development increases children’s positive social skills. Chapple, Tyler, and Bersani (2005) reported that abused children exhibit belligerent behaviors and aggressive attitudes, experience problems in their relationships with friends, display socially diffident behavior, and are rejected by their peers. Maloney, Lapierre, Cornetto, and Pears (2006) found that physically abused children exhibit a low level of prosocial behaviors and have difficulty in their peer relationships. Findings in my study are in line with those in both these studies. Erickson, Egeland, and Pianta (1989) found that in comparison to their peers, children abused in the family have difficulty establishing social relationships, and exhibit more aggressive and problematic behaviors. This also supports the findings in my study.

I found that abuse in the family of children in second-stage primary education affects social skills. Having poor or inadequate social skills, in turn, leads to children being rejected by their peers and experiencing difficulties in their social relationships (Maloney et al., 2006). Offering effective guidance counseling services in educational institutions, detecting possible cases of child abuse in the family in time to prevent long-term effects, and conducting activities with children and their families aimed at preventing child abuse, will enable children to take their place in society with well-developed social skills. Taking into consideration the limited data obtained from children’s self-evaluations in my study, it would be useful to carry out further research with results based on observations regarding the social skills of the children who are abused. Moreover, in future research preventative and rehabilitative studies could be carried out to find out more about child abuse and neglect by working with people from different occupations in the health, education, or social services sectors.

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Neslihan Durmuşoğlu-Saltali, Mevlana University, Faculty of Education, Preschool Education Department, Selcuklu, 42080, Konya, Turkey. Email: [email protected]