SOCIAL SKILLS AND SELF-ESTEEM

This study examined the interrelations among a multidimensional self-report measure of social skills/competence, the Social Skills Inventory, and measures of self-esteem, social anxiety, locus of control, loneliness, and well-being. One hundred and twenty-one undergraduate volunteers completed a battery of self-report measures of these constructs. As expected, correlational analyses revealed that social skills was positively correlated with self-esteem, and negatively correlated with social anxiety and loneliness. Contrary to prediction, total score on the Social Skills Inventory was not significantly correlated with either the locus of control or general well-being measure. However, all of the various measures, with the exception of locus of control, appeared to share a common dimension-one that might be labeled a sense of 'social self-efficacy'. © 1990.