The Models of Social Skills

Historically few theoretical and logistic formats have been seen in which social skills training has taken place in various environment. Few models such as Crick and Ladd, (1993), Elias (2003), Kilgore (1994), Smilon (1984), Harbeitner (1997), gave school based model to preventive mental health interventions in special education venues, Gresham (1981), Fleming and Flaming (1982), Shumaker et. al. (1983), Yancey (1998) gave their ideas to privatized interactive groups with clinical population.

Though there are definitely more than three approaches to social skill training program, yet interventions usually employ a combination of modeling, coaching, cognitive problem solving and group psychotherapy. Modeling has its focus on the observation of live models and in the studies that have examined modeling typically employs interventions demonstrating positive social behaviors such as eye contact or practicing the identification of appropriate social cues.

Coaching focus is on instructions and practice techniques of different skills which are not being used and coaching interventions employ direct instructions of positive social behaviors which help the children to inculcate improved social interactions. Usually direct instructions include teaching of appropriate emotional responses, social perceptions and conflict management. Under coaching intervention there is implementation of games in order to practice skills learnt through direct instructions. In the studies which incorporate the use of problem solving in models, there is the use of a preventive problem solving approach which aims to deploy the onset of future problem behaviors. The basic characteristics of this approach mainly checks the inappropriate functions prior to it taking place by instructing children how to manage and solve day to day social problems and challenges. Cognitive strength building and other cognitive tools to improve coping skills are also incorporated in to problem solving models. The studies that have the focus on psychotherapeutic models work directly to examine maladaptive feeling, thoughts and behaviors that have their strong impact on social situations. Both the situations have been recognized how poor social interaction can decrease peer relationship problems and how social rejection that occurs early in life can lead to develop skewed internal working model & both of these are important factors in determining how these conditions may negatively affect the relationship developed at later stage. Therefore number of proposed models has been given by which children can develop social skills which may lead them to develop better social interactions and more satisfying relationship.

Overall the studies support the use of social skill groups to improve social interactions and social behavior besides satisfying relationship in children however the following brief review of this literature is as under.

Bierman and Furman 1984 studied how social skill training and peer involvement improve peer acceptance of unaccepted children. It was specifically hypothesized that group interaction would increase skillful social interaction among participating children. In their research design 56 children of 5th and 6th standard were identified who were deficient in conversational skills and they were also not popular amongst their peers. These children were assigned randomly to receive either individual or group or combination of these training experiences or no treatment. These participants in the active intervention groups were given manual based group programming and coaching for the period of six weeks. The result of Analysis of variance indicated that there were no significant post intervention group differences in social interaction but there were significant improvements in conversational skills among the children assigned to the group and combination of training groups. There was also an interaction of sex and over all social skill acquisition were females intended to acquire a greater set of skills in comparison to their male counterparts. The authors concluded that practice of positive social communication may ultimately lead to improve social functioning is limited by the time limited nature of intervention in a group setting additionally numerous individuals administered group programming without initially being equated on ability to deliver the treatment paradigm. Thus on the basis of these positive results a more effective study may include a longer treatment approach and to make the result more interpretable there may be the use of same facilitators for each study group.

In another study 259 gifted students of 5th to 10th standard studying in a school at Hong Kong were identified to determine whether intellectually gifted children were at risk for social difficulties among their peers. These children were administered measures of emotional intelligence, social coping, non-verbal reasoning and divergent thinking. The results indicated that the students who scored higher on the measure of emotional intelligence were significantly different in social coping non-verbal reasoning and divergent thinking than the students who scored low on the emotional intelligence scale. Specifically, result of analysis of variance and post-hoc paired t-test revealed that divergent thinking, nonverbal reasoning and social coping were higher among children with higher emotional intelligence. Therefore, elements of emotional intelligence can be observed across diverse cultures and among children of varied level of intellectual ability. Additionally, this study suggests the importance of early detection, prevention and intervention for students potentially at risk for poor social competence.

Bireman, (1986) conducted a study on 27 pre-adolescent children identified as unpopular among peers. It was hypothesized that engaging in cooperative activities with socially accepted class mates and providing coaching would improve positive peers support and social skills. All the participants were engaged in cooperative interaction with socially accepted peers, however 50% of the participants were assigned randomly and they received social skill coaching for 10 sessions. The result indicated the children who received coaching displayed a greater frequency of positive conversational skills and enjoyed greater peer acceptance than children who did not receive additional coaching. While these results are positive, the study was limited in that interactions among accepted and non-accepted students who could not be standardized, hence it is difficult to isolate the specific impact of coaching as the possibilities are there that unknown components of student interaction might have their impact on treatment effect. Future studies might attempt to better control social interactions with planned interactions or activities. To monitor the social activities the study additionally employed videotaping which may have increased the features of experimental situations and may have its impact on social behavior of children. But it is not clear how the behavior of the children would have been different in a more naturalistic or less performance demanding situation.

In a study on social skill training school children were provided with a complex skills intervention which focused on assertiveness training based upon Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory (SCT). It was hypothesized that the skills related to assertiveness could be acquired in a class room setting. In this research design 22 children of 6th standard were given a three weeks intervention in six sessions. Each session included 40 minutes training and two sessions in a week were arranged. The lessons consisting of learning objectives, skill assessment through quiz and a practice activity in the class of social studies were organized. A 26 items skills assessment quiz administered prior to intervention and after intervention a six months follow up was also taken into account. The result indicated no significant differences pre to post-test, however the children performed better at a six months follow up significantly. Since students were not labeled or not debarred from regular class activities to build social skills, the results of the study were ambiguous as it is not clear to which extent the outcome measures are testing memory as opposed to a genuine improvement in interpersonal functioning. In addition the students possibly were responding to questions in a manner believed to be expected by the examiner (Experimental expectancy). Besides these facts no behavioral or observation measures were included to determine if skills obtained during intervention were generalized to non-training situation. A study with effective parameters might include outcome variables which may be relevant to actual social functioning.

Though there is ample theoretical literature which supports the use of social skill groups yet very limited empirical studies are available to identify the specific relationship between social skills training and positive social outcome among the pre-adolescents. Peterson and France (1992) described the Stop-Think-Do approach to skills training in which participants are reinforced for self-control, patience and cooperation in their social interactions. However the technique is comprehensive and well developed, no research was found that supports its efficacy. Hence there is a need for empirical research studies that examined the nature of social skills groups and how they develop the relationship with improved social functioning among children. In addition a focus on the fact how skills generalize to actual peer to peer interaction would increase the external validity of such program. In school psychology 2003 the task force on evidence based interventions was formulated to prompt researchers to work on empirical studies to examine the effect of social skills interventions in the schools. The committee supports a “move to an active agenda to advance research and practice in this area”.

Sasso et al 1990, Christopher et. al. 1993, Beelman et. al. (1994), Ogilvy, (1994) supported the overall efficacy of social skills training. Ogilvy, (1994) reviewed the available research studies and found that social skill training may significantly affect the social functioning of the children under specific guidelines. Ogilvy, (1994) suggested that programs must successfully instruct the skills taken into consideration and the programs must have provision for skill generalization to non-treatment settings and these programs must make a difference in a specific valued outcome of children i.e. increase in their socio-metric status. Though it appears difficult and an interactive, multifaceted approach may provide the most efficacious intervention. Ogilvy,(1984) continued the study by stating that the studies are very limited and have the focus on wide range of problem areas instead of focusing on acquisition of skills. Moreover observations are incomplete or defective observation methods have been employed. Further it has been argued that specific factors which may improve social skills have not been identified.

In many studies till date the selection of small sample size has its limit on generalizability and external validity of the result. Besides the small sample size there is also a selection bias as children have been selected on the basis of their unpopularity rather than on actual deficit in social skills. In addition, specific treatment approach fails to adhere to the treatment protocol, which makes it difficult to isolate the components of the independent variable which also decrease the effectiveness of the program. Further a review of the studies done till date shows that the studies include children with a variety of co-morbid disorders which make the results more ambiguous. In addition to all these shortcomings the outcome measures of many studies established with poor psychometric properties and the measures focus on external ratings rather than on internal developmental changes. In many studies appropriate control groups have not been included which make it difficult to rule out the threats to internal validity and to isolate the direct impact of independent variables.

Though a number of evidences are suggesting the efficacy of social skills groups yet it is not clear how the group intervention improves social skills in children. The literature related to social psychology describes the different mechanisms that may account for group efficacy. The research explores the effects of behavioral changes, modeling, reinforcement, emotional regulation and physiological brain changes as a result of social and emotional learning.