Factors Affecting Social Exclusion, Friendship Quality, Social Competence and Emotion Management Skills and the Effect of Problem Behaviors on Related Characteristics in Adolescents

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the predictive effect of the features (scale scores) related to the factors that affect social exclusion, friendship quality, social competence and emotional management skills in adolescents on adolescent problem behaviors such as smoking, alcohol use, unhappiness, hopelessness and self-harm behaviors. This research was carried out on 422 students studying at 9^th, 10^th and 11^th grades in 11 high schools randomly selected among the state Anatolian high schools of Kadıköy with the permission of Istanbul Governorship MNE No: 59090411-20-E.4519169 dated 21.04.2016. Data were collected through Social Exclusion, Friendship Quality, Social Competence and Emotional Management Scales and personal information form prepared by the researcher. The data were analyzed with SPSS 23 statistical software, two-way ANOVA (univariate) and logistic regression techniques. The findings showed that on the features related to social exclusion, social competence, friendship quality and emotional management skills, the following were effective: having smoker friends, having friends with negative behaviors towards others, dissatisfaction with physical appearance, perception of self-efficacy, getting along with friends, being sensitive towards daily events, having smoker family members and alcohol use the family, experiencing less economic problems in the family and participating in activities such as cinema with the family. The quality of friendship intimacy had an increasing effect on smoking and alcohol use, while the security dimension had a reducing effect on alcohol use, feeling unhappy, feeling hopeless and self-harm (bodily damage). The social exclusion, emotional management and coping with the problem dimensions had a diminishing effect on alcohol use, while negative emotions and the ability to control negative bodily reactions had a diminishing effect on self-harm behaviors. The findings suggest that, especially emotional management skills, friendship quality and social exclusion are dynamics that can determine the psycho-social risk susceptibility of adolescents. The results of the research reveal the importance of getting adolescents to gain the skills to manage friendship selection and friendship relations through studies aimed at supporting the emotional development of adolescents.